


White Sand, Blue Sky, and the Red Sea

by journaliry



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Albino Dave Strider, Character Turned Into a Ghost, Declarations Of Love, Drowning, Falling In Love, Ghost John Egbert, Ghost Sex, Half way through the story there are sex scenes, Haunting, Healing, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Kissing, M/M, Masturbation, Past Character Death, Past Rape/Non-con, Past Relationship(s), Romance, Slow Burn, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-12
Updated: 2019-07-30
Packaged: 2020-07-22 20:27:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 53
Words: 65,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19995412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/journaliry/pseuds/journaliry
Summary: After his brother dies, Dave Strider uses his inheritance to move out to the west coast. He is given a tour of a home by the sea and, much to his amusement, he is told that it is haunted by the spirit of a young man who died their years ago.Music Playlist: (YouTube Link)





	1. dawning

You were walking back to your apartment when you got the call. They didn't need you to identify the body, apparently his remains were so chard he could only be identified by dental records. His car completely caught fire after the crash.

You haven't heard from him in months. You can't even recall the last time the two of you spoke. You've been living on your own for five years now. You'd sell your 'art' works online in in gallery shows. You built up a local reputation as not only a photographer but the most bizarre contemporary artists in Houston, contemporary art itself is as difficult to define as your works are to understand half the time. Well, now you own all of his assets, his money, his estate... you're no longer a 'starving artist' and it's not just because you're planning on eating more than doritos and toaster waffles with your inheritance. 

You scattered his remains, his ashes, off the top of his old apartment at daybreak. As you now stand on top of the roof you scan the horizon. It's hard to see worth in any of it. In any part of the world. You watch the golden sun peaking over the cityscape as it slowly rises. Orange rays over the silver towers fading into blue. A perfect sky blue without any clouds, just pure blue. So clear and perfect it almost seems transparent. Transparent and clear just like the human soul... or maybe there's no such thing as the afterlife... you never believed in such a thing regardless.

You still think that after life, there is only the void.

You look down at the street below.

Something and then nothing. 

This is the roof he used to spar with you on. That's what he called it. It was really just a merciless beating he was giving to his younger brother because he was stressed with his 'work.' His work you knew nothing about. 

You take a deep breath from your nose.

Perhaps it's time for a change. 

You let the breath leave your being.

* * *

You packed all of the shit you wanted to keep, and couldn't sell, into the back of your hand me down red camaro. You decided to take a road trip. Oh, and also uproot your life and move to the west coast. You already decided you didn't want to live in California, you don't want to live in a large city and you don't want to deal with the heavy traffic you heard it has. You already searched a couple of different homes in Oregon and in Washington, called a couple realtors. You settled with the ocean coast of Washington. Someplace sandwiched between Seattle and Portland. Might be nice to have an exhibit there occasionally, subject some fresh eyes to your aptitude.

By the time you got to the border of Wyoming you were exhausted from the drive and you decided to plug in directions for the closest inn, you notice on your phone that one night is a hundred bucks. You think to yourself that you can sleep in your car, although... you _are_ a billionaire now. 

You sleep through your alarm a few times as you rested in bed. Eventually you get up, hit the shower, and head downstairs to get breakfast before the dining room closes. They just have cereal in different dispensers and 2% milk. Score. When you're done with that you turn in your keys and head back to your car, still in one piece. You knew that covering a blanket over all your boxes was the right choice. You get into your car, stick the key into the ignition and head out to complete your road trip. 

After a while of driving you pass by a green sign that spells out,

**'Welcome to Washington, The Evergreen State'**

over a white blob that you _think_ is supposed to be Washington. After several long stretches of miles you finally notice that the roads are completely surrounded by wood. Huge thick forests of green. The air smells of pine. You pass over a bridge and notice a large streaming waterfall is hidden behind the trees. You focus your attention back on the road and listen to your phone as it gives you directions to the inn that you plan on sleeping in till you buy a house and settle down here. Still, it's hard to not look at the scenery surrounding you. 

* * *

When you meet the realtor she firmly shook your hand. She gave you a bright smile as she drummed her long manicured nails on her clipboard. Her perfectly sculpted red hair framing her face. Her hair seemed stiff and fake to you but her smile was genuine. She actually seemed like she was excited to show you around the area. 

She offered to drive you in her car to see the homes you told her you were interested in over the phone and emails you sent her. During the drive she told you a bit about the area. "There's a nice farmer's market every sunday. They are starting to build up more stores a few miles from here, it's not that far of a drive from where I'm taking you actually." You nod at her as she talks. "You said that you're a photographer, correct? I thought I'd show you a house right on the coast." Funny, now she seems fake to you. You look at her and see that she is wearing a completely forced smile, she seemed so natural before but now she seems like she's worried about something. Now that peaked your interest.

She showed you the two houses.

One small but closer to the markets and shops.

One with beautiful scenery sounding it but completely secluded away from everything as it laid deep within the forests.

Neither of them really interested you. She seemed cheerful as she told you, "well third time's the charm!" she checked the clipboard again, probably to see the address, her eyebrows flinched for a moment. She must have remembered something is off about the house by the coast. Now you really want to see this place.

You got back into her car and drove off. You started passing a few houses near the coast and slowly there were less and less passing by your window. There was a long stretch of pines, now the land is covered in nothing but trees. Lush with forest greens from the leaves and the deep browns of the bark rooted in the ground. She rolled up to a brick driveway, laid so flat the car didn't bounce as it rolled on top of it. You noticed that the greenery stopped around the property. There were only a few plants, other than grass, in front of the house. Just a few hibiscus bushes, with blossoming red flowers along the walls of the home.

You got out of the car to get a closer look at the place. The house was a powder blue, pale but still vibrant with color. The outlines of the house were as white as cotton. The place looked like it just got a fresh coat of paint recently. The front door looked freshly painted to, it was a vibrant white with a small glass window shaped like an oval at the very top of the door. She unlocked it and showed you inside. You entered the front hall, there is a small foyer that leads to a large open room with a staircase. There no furniture in the hall or in the room. 

She began to show you into the next room a few steps ahead and to your left, "the house comes as is, you can keep all of the furnishing that's in the house. There are no mattresses or bedsprings I'm afraid, but the owner did leave some tables, a few chairs, and there's a couch in the living room and another sofa in the living room." She gestured her hand out towards the antique desk, "this is the study."

First thing you notice is a large black piano. Once you step inside you look behind you and notice there is a large green bookshelf along the doorway. "The owner left a few books, they suffer from water damage I'm afraid. I checked all of them and they don't have any mold so we left them." She says the words like they are rehearsed. You turn to look at her and she starts up again. "This place needed repairs a while ago, everything is in order now. We had an inspector come by-" She continues talking but you can't help but zone out for a moment. You had this sudden chill come across you when you stared at the corner of the room. Maybe it was static from this red persian rug covering up most of the wooden floor. There's another piece of antique furniture, just a small dresser with a few vibrant yellow-green plants on top. Their leaves leaking down off of the dresser, crawling down to the floor. Looks like they were recently watered. "-the back porch. There is a bathroom that we passed, I can show you that on the way out if you'd like, may I show you to another room?" You turn to face the reilter, stuttering once and then quickly catching yourself "hu- sure."

Her heels lightly clicked across the hardwood floors. The walls of the hall were a mocha brown. She quickly showed you the living room on the other side of the house across from the bathroom door. It was small and came with a small hardwood stand for a tv as well as the leather couch she mentioned a bit earlier. 

She took you past the staircase and into the kitchen. There was a regular fridge and a small table next to a window with two wooden chairs. The kitchen was small but just as big as you needed. There was a regular white gas stove that looked old but clean, like it was refurbished. "This house was built in the early 80's. I hope that you find it at the very least charming." She showed you into the laundry room. You watched her as she held her clipboard in front of her and gave you a warm smile. You looked down at her hands, she's clenching the clipboard tight in her grasp.

She guided you upstairs. There was a small hall, same color flooring and walls as the bottom floor. You turned to the right to see the bedrooms. There were two, both of them had white walls and were completely unfurnished, only real difference was one had regular wooden floors and one had soft, short blue carpeting. Blue as the sky but slightly darker in hue. You notice that the one with the carpet actually has a small bathroom with a shower connected to it as well as a small closet. That's perfect for you. You think to yourself that if you buy the house you could use the one with the hardwood floors for developing photographs. You enjoyed having a darkroom back in Texas, of course then it was just your closet, you want to work with more space.

She takes you across the hall and into the closed door balcony. The wood is painted a forest green and the walls are a shining white, along with the slightly tilted ceiling. There are two lamps, with white cones, hanging down from the ceiling and a few wooden cabinets on the wall closest to where you are standing. The other side has several windows all along the walls, along with the other, short two walls in between. The entire room felt a bit snug from how narrow the walls were.

You turn your head to the right and see that there is a bench with burnt orange cushions, so dark in color they looked almost red. There are two matching wooden chairs next to a small table in the corner. There's a red door leading to the balcony outside. You can see a view of the beach. The reeds leading up to the sand are a tan-yellow, there are several large pointed, yet still smooth, rocks along a trail of sand cutting in between the white sand and reeds to form a path down to the shore. The smooth, white grains lead up to the white seafoam, violently crashing onto the shore. The foam begins to turn red. The tides are completely red. Bright. Violent. Red as if it were blood.

You turn to look at the realtor.

"The waves turn red when there is an algae bloom." Once again, her words sounded rehearsed to you.

"How often do they turn red?" 

"Oh, more often than you'd think!" She nods a few small times at you, "the other homeowners use manure to keep their backyards green." She exaggerated her words as she spoke, "it rains and then the waves pick it up and it makes the _algae_ **just** _**explode**_ **.** " She nervously laughed as she leaned forward and clutched onto her clipboard. "Well, that's all of the houses you asked to see. I can take you downstairs to see the bathroom if you'd like."

"I'd like that."

Her eyes widened a bit, not in shock, more out of joy. Slowly a warm glowing smile crawled onto her face. She happily guided you out of the room, heels clicking on wood all along the way, down the hall, down the steps and up to the bathroom. There was a white oval tub along the wall with a small window off to the side, it was leaking in bright daylight. You notice that there's a toilet in it's own room with it's own white door.

"Would it be alright if I used it?" 

"That's no problem at all." She seemed happy that you asked, "I'll be waiting on the front porch for you."

As you used the bathroom you had this unsettling feeling. Not like someone was watching you, just this cold static chill and this feeling like someone was in the other room waiting on you to leave. You walk over to the large marble counter to wash your hands in the sink and use the complementary bar of opal soap. When you opened the door there wasn't anyone on the other side, but there _was_ someone waiting on you. 

You head out to the porch and see the realtor pocket her phone. "It's a lovely home isn't it?" She turns and smiles at you.

"Yeah..." You think of the right way to ask this. You come up short, so instead you're just going to be as blunt as you hope she will be with you, "why didn't it sell?"

"Well... sometimes the ocean waves can be a bit loud at night. There used to be a pest problem before we got rid of all the bushes and trees. Millipedes would just fall right from the ceiling." She mimicked the hand gestured of bugs falling like rain. She forced out a laugh as she continues to smile. She notices that you aren’t exactly smiling so she closes her mouth and clears her throat. “Well, as you can see there isn’t any more issues with the house. Plumbing redone, roofs been redone, so are the windows. Electrical, heating, cooling, everything is in check. One last thing I should… also tell you.”

That's what you were waiting for, "what is it?"

"The house is…" she pulled the clipboard up to her chest, "believed to be haunted.”

Okay, that got you to laugh. You let out a few chuckles under your breath and shake your head as you sigh. You rub your forehead and look down at the porches hardwood floor. “Alright, I’ll bite. What’s the story.”

“A young man drowned in the ocean several years ago. The home used to get rented out by the old owners and well… the new ones have been trying to sell the place for years after they bought it... They were interested in it because it was haunted... but... I'll be honest with you, I don't want to trick you into buying a house that is this badly... _frequented._

You scoffed at that on impulse. You collected yourself by sighing and rubbing your hand through your hair, “have _you_ ever seen this ghost?”

She looks at you and slightly lowers her brows and lightly parts her lips. She swallows down some spit and turns to continue walking down the steps reaching out a hand to gesture to you, telling you that you should walk with her. “Well, the price _is_ negotiable.”

You told her that you'd sleep on it. Once she drove you back to the office she handed you a plane folder filled with a few sheets with information on all of the houses she showed you. You thanked her and took a few pamplits from the front desk on your way out. You wanted to just check out the photos of the public parks and beaches they had in the brochures. You're probably going to spend a lot of time snapping photos in the forests and beaches, that hopefully don't look exactly the same as the ones in your hands.

You drive back to the inn and return to your room. When you woke up you grabbed some thing to eat in the local diner. Can't believe this place had one actually running. You're amazed that you're eating in a diner that wasn't like an ihop or waffle house. You ordered up a waffle with pecans mixed right into the batter. You kept thinking about were you wanted to live and only one house came into your mind.

* * *

"Well, sir!" The realtor smiled as she handed you the keys after you finished with all the grueling, boring, ballbusting paperwork. "The home is yours!"

"Thank you." You looked down at your new keys.

You know that buying a house near the beach means a lot of upkeep and probably insurance for shit like water damage... but hey, who knows, you might enjoy the up keep. maybe that will keep you busy... of course then again you might just watch the place slowly fall apart and do nothing till it is in desperate need of repair. 

First thing you did was head to a furniture store to buy a bed frame for a queen sized mattress. You got someone to help you tie a mattress to the top of your car and buy some cheap sheets and pillows to go with it. For now anything will do. Just want to get some rest before you go ham on the house and turn it into whatever the hell kind of avant garde nightmare you are going to turn it into. You carry everything upstairs, unloading everything, even all of the boxes of junk and camera cases you kept in your car for the past few days.

You take a while setting up your bed, you completely ignore the manual and just wing it.

The bed springs came out fine but now you're looking around for the last peg. You swore you had another one right besides you a moment ago. You hear something outside, sounds like something is spinning. You see the black peg twirling like a top, it's twisting in a spiral right in front of the staircase. You raise your brows underneath your shades. You don't hesitate to pick it up as it continues to twirl.

You take it and head right back into the room to finish up. You don't hesitate to rush the rest of the job. Slamming down the mattress and half-hazardly putting on the sheets. You instantly fall down face forward into the sheets once you're done. You roll over and put your shades on the window cill and finally get some much deserved rest. 

* * *

You spent a few days sprucing the place up. Putting your old record player in the study as well as a box of records. You strung up some Red and blue christmas lights that you found in the attic along your bedroom walls. You finished stringing them up, along with some posters you designed and old drawings that you made. You hung up some multicolored lights up in the living room and covered the window with a black sheet. You set up your Playstation, you spent some time hooking it up to the internet you just got. Your older bro had an Xbox, so you thought you'd stop with the microsoft and get with the sony. 

After you finished putting in the password you binged a full season of a baking competition. After you got tired of that you hit the antique shops. Lucky enough you found some things, an old bronze bust, a lot of old picture frames, a neon sign that reads OPEN, and two old wooden chairs you spray painted black outside over an old ripped up cardboard box you had. You painted the sides with various white dots, red waves, green dabs, orange lines, and every other color that striked you as a good fit for whatever pattern you were going for. As you worked you noticed there was a message smeared with red paint onto the cardboard next to you, LEAVE You liked the way the letters looked so you mimicked it on the top of the chair and on the other one you wrote STAY in a light blue. When you turned back to the other chair you just painted. Now spelling out LEAVE NOW!

"Sweet, it's a collab." 

You finished up and left the chairs to dry. You carried in all of your brushes, bottles and sponges and washed your hands of all the acrylic paint you accidently got on them in the sink. 

* * *

Damn, you are so fucking tired. The ghost kept you up all night. You're eyes are probably bloodshot underneath your shades. You're thankful you brought you're old coffee maker with you for the move. You brewed some in the morning and you reheated some in the microwave. Owners left you some old mugs, most of them christmas themed. At this moment you are shirtless and sipping your coffee out into a santa head mug. You sit down at the kitchen table and slid your laptop out of the pile of junk on top of it. You check your e-mails and browse for some more ideas for what to get for the house. Slowly you've been sipping on your coffee and by the time you finish sure enough, it's knocked to the ground. You yawn and get up to start sweeping with an old broom and dust pan. As you sweep up the broken ceramic pieces you notice water is slowly creeping towards you and your pile.

You look up.

You see a boy, a young man, about your age soaked in water. His bright, sea blue eyes are fixed on you. He's wearing a black sweater. He's barefoot. Right from where he stands water starts spreading out in all directions. You look down at the water in front of you. The strands of water are starting to curl up, slowly reaching higher and higher until suddenly they all stop. They stay in place for a brief moment... and then violently crash down. A miniature tsunami.

When you look up to see him again, he is gone. You glance back down, so is all of the water.

You take a deep breath and slowly breathe it out.

You have to admit.

That got you.

Not in a way that made you want to leave...

no, now you definitely want to see this through.


	2. Haunting Refrain

You are not fond of the idea of sharing your resting place with another man.

You certainly are not keen on the idea of him messing around with too many things around the house, the furniture is arranged just as you like it. Not only that but you like your plants, you're not letting them leave.

You're sure that he is asleep upstairs at the moment, you've been trying hard to disturb him with scraping at his door. You plan on knocking over his moving boxes later today. Your methods are not going to be vile just yet, nothing more than light breaths behind his ear and opening and closing doors. If he doesn't get the message soon you will need to use more menacing tactics. 

You lightly sigh as you sit down at your piano. You are little more than air at the moment. Still you can press up your fingers against the keys and lightly play a peaceful song for yourself to ease your nerves.

A few light gentle taps on the ivory tinged notes.

Playing a light melody, mimicking the soft pitter patter of rain.

You allow yourself to drift back and forth as you play.

Light gentle sounds vibrate through your being.

You feel harmony with the piano chords as it courses through you,

as it gently rides the air through your soul.

You are merely a breeze at the moment.

A cool gust of air.

Simply a breath.

You feel at peace as you play.

You silence your playing,

letting go of the melody,

allowing your soul to rest.

Something disturbs your silence.

You shot your head around and see him there in the doorway.

He is clapping his hands together.

He is staring right at you, through the obstructions of his shades. 

"I liked your song." 

You turn back around and slam the keys.

Violently you stab the fingers of your soul into the piano.

You begin to play a loud, menacing melody.

Quickly pacing your hands back and forth as you bang against the keys.

After several notes you turn your head to look at him. 

The bastard is smiling.

You slow your melody down to a halt.

You bang the keys again. 

You start playing the same melody but lighter, you slowly pick up the pace and slowly progress the melody to a deeper key. Aggressively playing as quickly as you possibly can. You keep slamming into the keys. The piano is already out of tune as it is. You're aggravation is coursing through your entire soul and it's too much **frustration** and **anger** for you to handle. You slam your fists into the keys, they struggle to hold the notes as you rest your fists against them. 

You lift up your entire soul and turn your head back to look at him again. 

"You're amazing." He claps his hands together for you. "Never heard anyone play like that in my life." 

Frustrated that he enjoys your melody, you gaze down at the floor.

Blood starts floating up from in between the planks of wood.

He glances down to watch as the sanguine fluid pools together and slides across the floor until it spells the words, 

** GET OUT **

"Okay, no problem." He turns to leave from the direction he came. "Still, that was beautiful."

You slam down the piano cover. You head outside by slipping through the wooden wall. You're so frustrated. So frustrated in fact that at this very moment you are rushing out into the pines to start clawing apart one of the trees. You violently scratch into it, using your fingers as blades. Tearing apart the bark till you dent enough of the tree for it to tumble and crash. You scream, so agonizingly loud that the entire 70 foot evergreen slams onto several other thick trees, devastating all the greenery around it. You clench your fists. You just want to rest and this man keeps driving you up the fucking wall. You thought destroying another pine would calm your nerves, but the following shame does not come.

You are not left with ache for destroying a symbol of longevity like usual.

Not mortified at clawing at a living symbol of reliance like the other times you've killed these pines.

no...

You continue to feel this burning, **blistering emotion.**

Not anger.

No something deeper.

Something you can't place your fingers on...

**But you don't like it.**


	3. thoughtlessly caring

You've been taken to your new home over the past week. It's large enough for you without being too big to feel lonely, of course you're never alone now. Not with the ghost that came with the house following your every move. At night you hear footsteps in the hallway and scraping at your door. Sometimes the walls bleed and you can smell salt water at random points in time. But there's never any water damage or scraps in the doors or on the floor. He can keep making his presence known, you aren't going to get into an argument with him over that. He just needs to get used to you. The only thing that freaks you out is the sudden slow breaths behind you as you walk through the halls while it's dark out. Still, it's his way of letting you know he's there.

You just finished taking a shower in your bathroom upstairs. You dry yourself off with a towel and wrap it around your waist then slip on your shades. It's late so you figure you'll get brushing your teeth out of the way. You gaze into the mirror as you fiercely scrub your mouth as quick as you can, you lean over to spit into the sink, when you pull your head back up you see the ghost standing right behind you. He's a full foot shorter than you are when your back is fully stretched out. He is still completely dripping wet. You grab a towel from the ring next to your door and turn around. He doesn't move, just watches you with his eyes. You wrap the towel around his shoulders. He still doesn't move. 

You rub the bridge of your nose and lightly sniffle as you prepare yourself to say,

"hm 'kay."

You pull up the towel on his neck and start wiping his hair. He keeps staring up at you through his square glasses. You wipe behind his ears as you say,

"You're trying to scare me away."

He says nothing.

"Sorry but you aren't going too, paid for it and I like this place."

He keeps staring into your eyes. 

"If you want, the study can be all yours. I'll take down anything you don't want. Just gotta ask."

He looked at the door. Suddenly it bursted opened and shut close. He looked back at you.

"Okay, so maybe you can take down anything you don't like. Is that why you straight up destroyed that santa mug. Cause it was ugly?"

He lowers his brows at you, like he's a bit confused.

"I told you that you aren't going to scare me."

He glares at you and stares at the mirror. 

Blood is smeared on the mirror spelling out,

**GET**

**THE**

**FUCK**

**OUT**

"Oh yeah, I forgot." You tell him. "Thanks for writing that message earlier. I've been void of any real ideas lately. Part of why I moved." You turn to look at him and grab the towel off of his neck. "Mind if I take this back?" You damped the towel with water from the sink and start wiping off the blood. Smearing red streaks into the silver mirror with your new navy blue towel. You keep talking as you wipe the marks with large circles and watch your progress. "So the drive over I saw these huge fuckin' trees -and this colossal fucking waterfa- So these trees right, they have to be like 80 feet tall. Insanely taller than this house, right? I heard one tip over the other day, was that you!?" You actually felt a twinge of excitement as you turned your head to look back at him.

When you see him he has no irises, no pupils.

Just white eyes.

He slowly tilts his chin down than slowly pulls his head back up.

"Holy shit." You reel your head back a bit. "That's a good one. That one got my heart going. The eye thing is cool too."

He blinks and his irises come back. He lowers his brows at you. Once again, he is confused.

"Okay, man... I have to be honest." You put your hand with the towel onto the sink and grab it. "I didn't believe in ghost or the afterlife till I met you, and shit- you're making this haunting stuff look easy..." You nod at him. "You're really good at this don't get me wrong, but way I see it, you're a still just a guy. You want to scare me you have to threaten my life." You lean your head into him and nod at him, "and that still might not scare me." 

He turned to look at the mirror again. You're expecting a threat or something simple like **'DIE BITCH'** there's nothing, not even smears. You look back and he's gone.

Must have gotten tired of trying to deal with you. That's funny when _he_ was the one who so rudely snuck up on you while you are naked in a towel and then _he_ cursed _you_ out with blood.

Well, you'll talk more later anyway. You can set up boundaries later. 


	4. Hollow Threat

You've been keeping a close eye on him. Half the time he's in the kitchen laughing at pictures, just like he is doing at this very moment. Smirking and choking on his creamfilled coffee as he laughs at an unusual video on his screen. His screen that opens up like a plastic folder or a black book.

You've seen those things on tv before when the home's previous owners had a large flat one. You know people use it to read mail and... _hack..._ into things? You aren't quite clear on that. Maybe if you had the chance to watch more movies before you scared them out you'd know more. Well, even if you did watch more movies they would just keep shutting off the screen when you'd turn it on. Those people were way too skittish, even when you watered their plants they would tense up. At least the realters seem to take kindly to you cleaning the house and watering the plants. You were happy that they just fixed the bug problem, but miserable with the fact they kept showing the home. You got to the point where you just let the realters show the folks around and just make your presence known in small ways. When this new guy bought the house first thing you thought was that you should've done more to scare him off, but he seems to indulge in your antics, much to your annoyance.

You decide now is a better time than ever to let him know he’s not alone. You walk up behind him and tap his shoulder. Hoping that will shock him. He jolts a bit, not from any emotional shock but from static that is coursing through his spine. He rolls his shoulders in response. He turns around in his chair, looking for you. He is wearing his shades, like always. You can’t see if he is looking right at you or not, but it feels like he is.

"Yeah?"

He speaks the word as if he is asking a friend if they need anything, you narrow your eyes at his tone.

He keeps looking in your direction, waiting on you to answer him. You point your finger over his coffee mug, turning the liquid into vapor. The scent of coffee courses through the room as well as through your soul. You lightly tap the cup so he hears it click. He turns and stares right at his mug, his eyes widen a bit when he notices it is empty. You shove the cup with the back of your hand and drag it off the table till it hits the floor. Instantly shattering and skirting along the floor. You lift your wrist and arrange the broken shards into another threatening phrase,

**'GET OUT'**

"You didn't have to drink my coffee and break my mug to tell me that, you know?"

You rearrange the pieces. His eyes follow the shards as they twist to spell out,

_**'NOW!'** _

"Okay, this is my kitchen too. I'm sorry but I'm not going to-"

You slam your fist in the air and shatter the pieces again. They break apart into dust.

You leave the room. Floating upwards into the ceiling. You've had it up to **here** with that man. You are going to tie all of his shirts together and hang them on the wall like those damn Christmas lights. First things first you need some more energy to work with...


	5. tired but already too drained

You've been spending all of your nights in bed getting woken up by the sounds of scratching at your door. Sometimes you'd open it up and peak out to see if you could see the ghost again. Other times, like right now, you'd take your pillow and head into the study, he would never break anything in the study. You hate waking up in that red and green christmas looking nightmare, you always wake up in it with an aggressive back ache. You put on your shades, dulling at least some of the rooms natural ugliness. Original owners must have been big on christmas, you found strings of lights, santa mugs and just now, underneath the couch you found a plush pine tree. You dusted it off and put it on top of the piano. As you were making your way out the door the green plush was thrown at the wall. Instinctively, you moved to catch it. You caught it with one hand and examined it with both hands. You noticed that there is a large tear with white stuffing coming out of it.

The ghost can claw things open.

Good to know.

You guess that's how he knocked over that tree. You sighed as you head out the food to toss it out in the kitchen's trash bin. After, you head upstairs with your pillow under your arm, violently hoping that he won't get the idea to claw that open too. You walked into your bathroom and strip to take a shower. You'd hate to admit it but lately you've been feeling a bit tense, tense in the hormonal way. You decided to slowly start working yourself from your head to your shaft. You like it better with lube, you're thinking about getting some but you don't know if he's going to peak when you jack it or piss. _'Eh, his fault if he's lookin'.'_ You let out a light sigh as you rub your thumb over your head and then begin to work your hand in a slow pace, up and down your cock. You rest your free arm against the tile wall and lean your body into the clenched palm of your hand. You bite down on your lips while you moan and gradually pick up speed. You close your eyes and start working yourself faster with your fist until you feel yourself finish, then you slow down and slam your hand down with three large, slow strokes to milk yourself dry. Grunting with each of your few final movements, cum leaking onto the back of your fist. It's been so long since you've been able to cum, you just let yourself savor it instead of feel any ounce of shame.

You didn't feel any chill in the air so you assume that you didn't just put on a peep show for a vengeful spirit. That, or he got hot. You snort at the thought but it just sounds like your blowing air out of your nose. 

When you finish up with your shower, you take your shades from the counter and slip them back on. You head into your bedroom pull on some soft pajama pants then a white shirt. Both of which just ended up sticking to your wet body. You keep drying your hair with a towel as you head downstairs for something to eat.

You grab some waffles from the freezer and popped them into your toaster. You didn't feel any chill when you went downstairs either. Nothing got thrown around. No drawers are slamming open or shut. Your microwave isn't randomly turning on and off. Everything's completely calm. Suddenly your waffles pop up, not in a supernatural way, just a typical normal, 'snacks on' 'food's ready' kinda way.

You take out your laptop and search up what you've been meaning to, but were too embarrassed to. You typed up your address, thought you'd look into things a bit further than just talking to a mute ghost. Your house was featured on an episode of a paranormal investigator show. You read the synopsis of the episode, apparently they couldn't get him to really do anything or cooperate with them. He's smart. If he would have done any of what he does to you more people would show up. He probably really _does_ want nothing but to be left alone. You’re sure that you can make a compromise. You don't mind making this work. Just got to let him know that you're roommates now. 

You searched through the synopsis, looking for the name of your new roommate. They called the ghost 'John.' He was only 18 when he drowned at the pier down the beach here. He was staying in this house with a group of his friends for the summer. He went out swimming on his own at night. They think that John was maybe caught in a riptide and exhausted himself...

You close the tab and start browsing your usual sites.

Eventually you felt a chill in the room.

"sup?"

Of course you get no response.

"nothin'?" You mutter to yourself, "cool."

You decided to start searching through your usual sites. You instantly laugh under your breath when you see someone made an animated short of Garfield as a gore monster demanding bags of meat. Ha ha. That's a good one. Might scare him though if he saw it...


	6. Another Trick

You're nearly through all of those horrible old christmas mugs. Still he isn't getting the message. He just went out and bought more. Sadly they are just as ugly and old. You will have to work your way through those as well. Perhaps you should destroy the entire shelf, break apart each one and spell out another threat with blood or maybe just use the shards... he won't get scared at that... just annoyed he has to clean up the dust and broken pieces. 

You keep staring at the cupboards. Thinking if you should just do it or spare yourself the trouble of another failure. Maybe you can wear him down and annoy him to the point of leaving... you might be able too... Suddenly there is a knock at the front door. You start heading over to see who it is. You've already made it to the doorway as the doorbell chimes. Of course the new owner is halfway-down the stairs. You watch him as he dresses his bare chest in a black lounge robe. He's wearing his shades along with sweatpants and slippers again, just like always. You leer at him as he steps past you and grabs the handle of the front door. You float back as he opens the door to see a man holding a tool kit. He's dressed fairly nice but he still probably here to mess with the house.

"Thanks for driving out here, It's this door right here."

He's showing the man into your study as he continues to chat with him.

"Can I get your card? I might ask for you guys again."

"Sure thing."

You listened to the two of them and deeply sigh. 

He's planning on messing up your room. Of course he's just going to do whatever he wants.

You peer in, with a narrowed gaze. You aren't fond of-

The man he invited in is opening up your piano...

He's here to tune the keys.

"I'll stay down on this floor, just give me a shout when you're done. Kay?"

"That sounds like a plan." 

The man with the snow white hair glides back into the hall. He walks past you. 

You follow him into the kitchen, he's-

No. It's just a ploy, an act. He isn't tuning the piano for _you._ He's tuning the piano so you leave him alone. So you stop breaking mugs. So you stop scratching his door. So you stop- stop all of the things you've been doing. He wants you to be quiet and stay in the room he's trapping you in. He wants the rest of the house to himself as he forces you into a goddamn hole. He's drinking apple juice from a glass. You should smash it with the liquid still inside! Let him know you aren't a fo-

There's another chime at the door. The owner stands up again he makes his way back to the front door. Before he leaves the kitchen he grabs his retractable blade from the window sill. He keeps a lot of blades and knives in the house... maybe it's a... _**Texian** thing?_

You trace the air behind him as you follow him across the floor. You lightly sigh, a tired, drained sigh. He notices and turns his head around. The bastard gives you another one of those smiles. He seems like he doesn't mind you breathing down his neck. Let's see how he likes rain pouring from his ceiling while he's trying to sleep at night.

He opens the door. No one is there. Just a large brown package.

He picks it up, lifting it like it's heavy. He walks into the study again and flips out the blade. You flinch. He cuts into the box and puts the knife safely into his pocket. You lean in to see what's inside. It's... it's several hardcover novels packaged tightly together inside of the tan cardboard box. He looks back to the man working on your piano and asks,

"Hope you don't mind if I just unload these real quick."

"No problem at all, it's your house."

"I'm sharing the space with someone else actually." He starts placing the books into your bookshelf. "I'll just finish up here and than leave you too it."

He got you a few classic novels, one of the novels looks like a crime drama, one looks like a romance, all of them have vibrant, colorful covers. An array of different colors, bright orange, lovely shades of green, a handful of different lively light blues, spirited yellows, every shade of green you can think of and a few charcoal black. The shelf still has a lot of gaps but now they are brimming with hue. Each novel is like a sharply dressed case of words, a little packaged gift...

A gift... 

He had them shipped right to the house... for you. All of them look brand new, store bought books. Not like the hand-me down thrift shop things he buys himself...

You...

You have to head out to clear your head for a moment.

You need to think on this...

it could still all just be a trick... 

another trick...


	7. qualia

You're searching through your cabinets for some cereal. You can see, in the pan on the wall, the reflection of everyone's favorite ghost walk by. Maybe not everyone's favorite, but he is yours.

“Back again?"

Those strands of ebony hair are still dry, but the rest of him, including his face is soaking wet.

You sit down and pour cereal into your bowl as you pour your milk. You put the box down and then screw the cap back on the milk. You start eating.

“John, right?”

You keep chewing on the cereal. You swallow and look at him, waiting on an answer.

He nods once.

You give him a small smile and than quickly go back to eating.

“You know that I moved from Texas. I hear that here in Washingt'n that the winters are bitter. I’m not used to the cold so I’m not looking forward to freezing my ass off but I do want to see snow. I’ve never seen it in person.”

He kept staring at you.

“Hey, when I was getting the tour around the realtor said that the algae turned the sea red, was that really just you?”

You figure that it was.

He looks at you for a while.

You lower your head a bit and lean towards him.

He nods.

You smile and ask him,

“What else can you do?”

He pointed at the door into the living room, as soon as you looked over he was standing in the middle of the laundry room. You started grinning and than turned your head to look back at where he was sitting. You jumped back a bit, still smiling, when you saw him again sitting in front of you.

You started chuckling and then told him, “that’s fuckin' cool.”

He lifted up a finger telling you to wait. Than he pointed behind you. The faucet started running water, suddenly it turned into thick deep red blood. Pus hit the sides of your counter as the tape violently discharged the flood. You clapped your hands together once as you laughed at the sanguine fluid and yellow chunks. You turned your head to look at the specter. He was laughing too. He closed his mouth and slightly smiled at you when you met his gaze. He lifted up his hand and as he did all of the crap on your table was lifted up. You grab your bowl of cereal and your spoon and start eating again as he rearranged all of your junk, hovering it in the air as he lightly places down a few items. All of your 25 cent spiral notebooks are rearranged into a pile along with the brochures you picked up at the realtor's office. A small moleskin notebook. A few pens resting besides some polaroids you recently took. Your camera resting on top of the pile.

He moves your laptop in front of him. 

He looks down at it.

“You want me to show you how to use it.”

You get up and stick the last bite into your mouth as you drop your bowl into the sink. The smell of blood and pus is completely gone, still you add a bit of water to it. You’re still chewing on your cereal as you grab a hand towel. You walk over to him and swallow your breakfast down. You get down on your knee and out stretch your hand and wait for him to take it. He slowly lifts up one of his hands. He’s hesitant to touch you. He places his hand into yours. You take it and smile down at it. His skin is completely sheet white but you can see several purple and blue veins underneath them. His hands are cold, wet, all together depressing, still holding them in your hands and drying them off is making you smile warmly from ear to ear. You look up at him. He jolts his head back a little. His sky blue irises shake as he gazes into your shades. His eyes start flickering down to his hands and back up into your obscured gaze.

The deep _blueness_ of his eyes alone is remarkable to you. Like a mix of sky blue and sea blue, still no words can properly describe their... depth. His irises are in no way shallow like your own, they in no way look like flat disks. They feel a nearly infinite abyss. There’s a dancing white light sparkling in his eye, like sunlight bouncing on top of sea blue waves. Maybe it's more like daybreak passing through the morning sky, you can't tell. There is such a... uniqueness to him... maybe it's because he is just a soul, maybe it is because you are just staring into his soul.

He tilts his head and lowers his brows at you, narrowing his eyes.

Looking into your shades in... concern... for you.

You've been silent for too long.

“Have you ever used a typewriter before?”

He nods at you once.

“It’s a lot like that.”

You press your index finger against the power button on the side of your laptop for a few seconds. He doesn’t seem that surprised that the screen flashed on and chimed, he must have seen you use it, or rather watched you use it. You open up the browser and start a new tab for him to star a new search. 

"Just type what you want to search and hit this key," -you point at the enter key- "when you're done."

He rests his fingers above the keys, he must have seen how you use it. Still he backs up his hands and starts typing with his index fingers instead. Slowly typing out the letters,

'john egbert'

He narrows his eyes to read the first result. He backs his head up a bit. He rests his hands down on the table, one on top of the other. He looks down at the keys.

You read the first result. It's a short summary of a news article about how a boy in Washington accidentally drowned in the ocean. He lifts his hands to hover over the keyboard but moves them back. He sits up from his chair. Just as he gets up you turn to watch his movements but he vanished again. You use your laptop for a little while, and by a little while you really mean a few hours. You shut it off and head out to the market again. Before you do you rip out a sheet from one of your old note books and write with a regular old dried up red pen you found.

‘let me know if you want to try using it again’


	8. Rose-tinted Gaze

Your hands are completely dry...

You were hesitant to touch the new books earlier but now...

You suppose there is no harm in looking seeing that they are in your space anyway. Why not just take a peak?

You scan through all of the titles, just glancing at the sides of each of the books.

Each of the titles sound almost poetic. You trace each letter with your eye from left to right, side to side. You completely drifting to the side and laying down in mid air. You were floating as if you were laying in water, lazily scanning the titles for a good book to read.

You pick out the only one on the shelf that is pink. It stands out to you more than the others for it's unusual hue. It seems romantic, it is a romance! It's about a woman who lives in a small village, surrounded by evergreen trees. Trees just like on the front cover! Her village is visited one day by a modern man who falls for her and wants to show her the world he came from. Her parents don't want her to know to much about the outside world because they are afraid that she'll love it and leave her home. She's fearful of it herself because she has a responsibility to take care of her younger siblings while her parents run an inn. The inn that she, herself, lives in. The inn that she meets the man... She doesn't want to lose her way of life but she passionately falls in love with the man from another part of the world. 

After you read the summary on the back you gleefully open the novel. You skim through the story, you feel the protagonist’s inner conflict as you read her thoughts. She seems at complete odds with herself... torn by her mind and her heart. You binged the entire book to the final chapter. It ended with the man marrying her. When they are older, and her parents pass away, they took over her families inn and had three children of their own. It was a pleasant ending to an emotional story. You felt a warmth soothe your soul as you read the final few words and closed the book.

You open it back up again just to grab the ends of the pages with your thumb and let them fall back into place. Repeating the process as you lose yourself in thoughts of what you just read. You wonder if the author wrote more novels like that. You loved the story but the word choice could use a bit more work. Too many times did the author use the same phrases and terms. 'dirt soaked shoes.' 'falling in love.' 'hurting heart.' 'shimmering tears.' 'stunning gaze.' 'glowing eyes...' His mysterious, hidden eyes. He gave you all of these novels... and you've been sitting in here reading all day. The entire day. He's probably in bed by now... expecting that you stay in here and do exactly what you are doing now. Reading these books... he bought this book, specifically for _**you**_ to read... and you are falling for it!

Falling for his ploy!

You are letting him know that you are not that stupid to be played like this.

**You are going to let him know that he just made a terrible mistake.**


	9. still standing

You just got back from your last shopping trip, just bought some groceries. You made a stop at the gas station and picked yourself up a cherry slushy. When you got back you sat down in the living room and started binging a mockumentary show. You lift up your legs to put your feet up on the table but suddenly the table scoots back. You figure he doesn't want you scuffing up his table with your dirty old red converse,

"'kay."

You kick your leg up and rest one of your feet on your knees. _'Can't get pissed at that.'_

You slurped on the drink till it was empty. You're too lazy to get up so you just keep it in your lap till you have to take a piss or get bored of watching.

“You never told me your name.”

You just heard a voice you have never once heard before.

You turn your head to look at him through your shades.

He's sitting besides you, eyes focused on the screen.

You have to admit you are a bit shocked that he spoke.

He turned his head to look up at you. You give him a light-half smile.

“It’s Dave.”

You keep smiling at him for a while and wait for him to say more. He just keeps looking at you and then turns his head back to the tv. You continue watching with him, eventually he must have gotten tired of watching one of the few commercials or the silence so he spoke up again, “I got your note.”

“You can use it whenever you want, just turn it off when you’re done.”

“I don’t want to use it.” He sounds a bit annoyed at you.

“That’s fine.” You lightly sigh and turn to face him again, “anything you do want?”

He turns to look at you and then looks at the tv. He shuts it off by blinking his eyes. He looks back at you.

“I want to be alone.”

“Okay.” You get up. “If you’re sure that’s what you want I’ll go out again.”

He grabs your wrist.

“You’re not the only person whose **tricked me** like this before.”

You turn your head to look at him, he looks upset with you. Almost angry, but there's something else in his eyes, something familiar. You sit back down. Sitting on one of your legs as you face him completely. You ask,

“What are you talking about?”

He lets go of your wrist. He looks down at your hands and than up at you. He doesn’t say anything.

“I just figured if you’re haunting this place and scaring the shit out of people than you’re-" you sigh, “just as alone and… fucked up as I am.”

He narrows his brow and moves slightly back away from you. He gives you a questioning look. You look into his eyes, “I figure shit’s worse than you just drowned if you’re hanging around too.”

He moves forward again. His eyes are filled with a blue fire as he gazes up at you.

“Listen.” You take a breath through your mouth and slowly exhale, “I don’t think there is anything I can do to you that would hurt you now.”

“You say that.”

“Man…" You sigh. "I won’t fucking play you- what do you think I’m going to do to you?”

“An exorcism." He answers quickly, like he's been waiting to yell the words at you.

You lean your head back and lower your brows, “what?” 

“They tried it before. I left for a while, waited on the beach and then came back. Try that with me and I **won't** get caught and I **won't** be happy.” He leans in closer towards you and lightly breaths the words, “I am not so easy that I’ll keel over and let myself die.”

“I can promise you I won’t pull shit.” You assure him, lightly placing your hand on his shoulder and than back down on the couch. “I don’t care if your hanging out here as long as you don’t cause any damage to the house.” You look down at the table in front of you too. “Actually I like your company… makes me feel less… I don’t know… alone.”

He looks down at his hands. They are still dry. He takes a moment and then starts rubbing the back of his hand with the other.

“You feel the same way?” You quietly ask him.

He looks up at you. Something in his eyes tells you yes, so you smile. He narrows his eyes at you again and then looks down. You take off your shades. Maybe he'd take you more seriously if you'd show your eyes.

His eyes widened at the sight of them.

Red irises with red pupils.

His eyes are much more pleasant to stare into...

Even still, he tells you...

"I've never seen eyes like yours."

Just two simple red dots, lighter white lines acting as your irises. 

He can see completely through you now.

“You want to watch anything?" You offer him the controller. "I’ll let you pick.”

He looks down at the controller and back up at you. He narrows his eyes and peers down at what you are offering in your hand. He's hesitant to take it. He lifts up one of his hands and slowly grabs onto the controller. Once it’s in both of his hands a message flashes on the screen that the battery level of your controller is almost up. He lets out a sigh and hands it back to you. "That's how I get the energy to... _fuck..._ with you." He's staring down at the floor. "That's how I get the energy to even _pick_ things up... I just keep sucking up all of the batteries to your cameras... and the electricity from your outlets..."

"It's cool." You shrug.

He looks up at you again. 

"It's kind of hard to... stay like this... too sometimes."

"You mean like visible."

"I mean tangible."

You slightly pull your head back and make a slightly sour face.

" **touch** -" -he pauses for a second- " **able.** " He raises his brows at you. He sounds like he's annoyed at you again, all because you didn't know a word. 

"Hold on." You get up and walk over to the system. You pull out the charger, it's long enough to reach over to him. You hold the black wire and plug it into the controller. The button in back of it lights up with a long blue light. He stares down at it and then looks back up at you. You sit back down beside him. You press down on the button in the middle to start using hulu again. You look backup at John. "You can still pick what we watch, man."

He just keeps looking at you.

You shake the controller with one of your hands, "offer's still standing." 

He looks into your eyes, you look away for a moment, you feel exposed without your shades. By the time you look back he's gone again. 

"Alright." You sigh. "Just going to finish this than." 

You lift up your feet. You hook the tips of your toes underneath your table and pull it towards you. When your done scooting it back in place you kick your feet back up on the table. He didn't say not too. He can tell you what he wants from you with words if it's so important. Once again the table scoots from under your feet. This time he throws it to the floor.

Yeah... maybe actions speak louder than words...


	10. It Won't Work

He's doing it again.

He got you another box filled with books.

He must have noticed that you've been in the study after you spent one entire day reading a novel he gifted- no forced on you. You did not ask for these books. He just put them in here. You could just rip the pages from their glue, tear apart the paper. You could arrange them into another threatening message outside the front door, ring the bell then set them on fire with a lighter. You could of course, do that. A more reasonable tactic is to simply drag them out of the room. Leave them all stacked outside your door, let him know that his gambit won't work on you. Only... you do like the novels... they are so colorful in this red and green gaudy room. It has the ugliest persian rug that's seen better days, even when you were still alive. You do like the plants but you think that just about everything else in this room is sad and old... well not the... the books that he bought you... 

He keeps filling the shelves with books for you.

To entertain you.

To pacify you.

You will not be pacified by a few simple novels and some piano tuning.

He thinks he can tame you, like you are a wild animal taking up space in his home.

Cleaning up after every mug you break, like you are a house pest leaving droppings.

Showing you his glowing red eyes.

Trying to sooth you with gentle looks and warm smiles.

You sigh. 

What is the point in destroying the things he gifts to you...

not like you have much anyway...

to bad you're out of Christmas mugs now...

you really want to break something.


	11. another morning with you

You got up to eat your usual breakfast, _but_ you were all out of cereal so you made toast with eggs instead. You stood at your stove as you fried up two sunny side up eggs. Your toast popped up way before your eggs were done so you took the time to butter them. You laid the slices on a plate and eventually laid down the eggs on top of each buttered slice. You grabbed a glass from the cupboard for your drink of choice, apple juice. You set it down as you sorted through the full fridge. You had to move half a dozen take out boxes to get out the eggs today. You can barely even see the glowing piss color of the juice. When you found it you grabbed your glass and made your way to the table.

When you turned around you were surprised to see your favorite ghost again. 

You put down your food as you greeted him, "hey."

You give him a pleasant smile. You were pleased to see that he didn't break the glass while you were scavenging through your mess of a fridge. You sat down with the bottle and poured it into the glass. Saving it by your side for later, if you weren't serious about this turning a new leaf thing than you would have just drank it from the bottle... plus you don't want your roommate judging you for your worser habits. Don't think he caught you muttering to yourself yet, than again... you haven't been stressed enough to do that. 

You took a bite of your toast, the sunset yellow yolk began running down your chin. You grabbed the roll of paper towels off the counter behind you and dabbed your face. When you turned around he was still there, you're glad you're wearing your shades because you were expecting that he'd just vanish again, your eyes stretched open wide... no he's just waiting on you to speak.

You take a sip of your apple juice to wash down the yolk-covered toast. You're about to eat another bite when you say,

"You were in my dreams last night, I didn’t know you could do that."

You bite down into the rest of the yolk part of the toast. 

He looks at you strange as you chew.

He lowers his brows and tilts his head away from you. 

You must have said something off...

Oh.

“You can’t can you...?”

He stares at you for a moment.

He slowly shakes his head 'no.'

"Ah..." You bite down onto the rest of the toast and try not to make a sour face as you chew. This feels so strained and awkward... only reason why is because you made it that way... so _you_ have to fix it. 

You puff out a sigh from your chest and take a bite of the next slice of toast.

"Hey," you spoke with your mouth full, you swallow down your bite and wipe down your chin with your paper towel again. You drop your toast to your plate as you throw your crumbled napkin down next your drink. Then you clap your hands together as you wipe them free of crumbs.

"What's the limit of what you can do?"

He narrowed his eyes at you.

You stare at him.

He leaned his face in a bit.

You lean in a bit too as you raise your brows above your shades.

He stops leaning in.

You take a bite of your toast again.

He sits back and closes his eyes.

"Maybe I'll leave something as a surprise."

"Ha!" You swallow down your bite. "I can't wait to see it."

"Maybe you won't." He is looking down at the table ahead of him. Showing you just the top of his head... but when you tilt your head down to look at his face you can tell that he's smiling.

"Oh." You lean into the table a bit more as you grin at him, "starting to like my company?"

He tilted his head back up. His smile faded.

He shot his head to look over at your stove.

All four of your burners were instantly set ablaze. 

"What the fuck!?"

You turned your head to look at him but he already bailed. You shot your head back to look at your stove and it was fine.

No burn marks. No flames.

You couldn't even smell any smoke.

_'Was that even real?'_

Wait... _'is he?'_

You didn't know his last name till he typed it but maybe you subconsciously recalled it from your searches...

You type in his name again into your laptop. 

You try to find an image of him. 

You saw him before you looked into his death.

There.

There he is, next to some older man, must be his dad.

Same blue eyes, same ebony hair, only he has tan skin in the picture. 

Now he has purple and blue veins throughout his whole body, trailing down his limbs and down from his forehead, under his often damp black bangs, and down to his sea blue eyes... but lately... his skins been looking a bit more clearer... well maybe that isn't the right word. His skin's been less transparent. You can't see his veins as much anymore.

Maybe he's been using more of your power and getting... better?

You can't be sure of anything. One moment he will be hiding a smile from you and the next enraged.

You have to be patient with him. Telling him not to flip shit is a sure fire way to make him lash out. You're just going to chill and let him take this change with in his own time...

however....

It's hard not to freak out that he almost set your kitchen on fire.

You're still calming your heart as it hammers against your sternum.


	12. Blue Gust of Mist

He is only saying such kind words to get at you.

To claw at you.

To make you lower your guard and than find a way to snatch you up.

Chew you up, spit you out...

You don't know what he wants but you are suspicious that he's planning on the worst... 

Funny... You always thought the worst case scenario is getting caught by a priest and banished to... too... you don't want to think about where...

You don't know all to much about the afterlife... 

You have never seen another ghost but sometimes when you touch furniture you can sense if it belonged to anyone. You hate that antique dresser in your study... it always gives you a vibe when you touch it that courses through your entire soul. It makes you feel like your soul is being pulled into that object... like you could possess it. Maybe you could, but then you don't know if you'd be trapped in it... best not to let it happen, you don't want to find out if your suspicions are correct.

You like the newer furnishings though, newer objects don't pull at your soul in anyway. Also so many things are electric now, makes you feel, well, stronger.

All of it just makes you feel... healthier. You enjoy being able to just rest without feeling the wear the antique sofa or old rug underneath you. You got used to the staticy feeling they give you but still... sometimes it's hard to ignore.

That's why you like sitting on the leather sofa in the living room instead of the old one, that and resting in the air... The last owners never used the living room... definitely not like _he_ does. He always puts his filthy shoes or dirty feet up on the table. Your so angry with him if he keeps it up you are going to smash it! 

You're watching him intently, sitting cross legged and facing him as he sits in the middle of the couch. He's doing that thing again were he rests one of his feet up on his knee. Occasionally he chuckles at the jokes the characters on his show make as they talk about whatever ridiculous situation they are in... and occasionally... you do too. Sometimes you worry that he can hear you. You noticed that he starts smiling, really smiling... with his teeth and everything when you do. You lay back into the chair and watch the show.

He yawned and outstretched his arms as he stretched out his back. He left both of his extended arms up on the top of the sofa to rest. You instantly stand up. You don't want him to stick his hand through you or... or... you notice that his bangs are lifting up along with his gray cotton shirt, it's starting to get damp. 

You must be blowing mist violently around again. As quickly as you can you sink into the floor to stop the gust from- oh great. You just fazed yourself into a heap of dirt again. You float up. Angry with yourself for not thinking clearly, you were on the first floor and now you are back again. You look at the home's new owner,

...he is _smiling?_

He's laughing and clapping his hands again.

"I didn't know you could do that!?"

He actually sounds... impressed with you again...

He always sounds so blown away by everything you do.

You float in the middle of the room, at the very center.

He's looking around to see if he can spot you.

He's excited to see you.

You need to leave.

You have to get out.

You should to go.

But you stay.

You stay and watch him until he settles down again.

He seems... disappointed.

Your feet touch back down onto the ground. 

You walk back into your study. 

You sit back down onto your sofa.

At this point you welcome the strained feeling it gives you over this pounding in your head...

You lay your head down.

You wish that you could sleep.

You wish that you could dream...

It would be so much easier if you could just rest.

It would feel like restarting the day...

no... 

everyday you wait in here...

for him to get up... 

to see him again...

He must have just got up from his seat.

You hear Dave walk out of the room. He's probably about to go upstairs.

"I don't know if you are in here..."

You shot up to look at him.

He's peeking his head out of the door frame.

"...but that was honestly, really fuckin' cool."


	13. salt soaked

You haven't taken a bath yet, first of all you didn't have anything for a bath till today, second of all you have a nosy, invisible roommate. You bought some salt because it was on clearance at a department store you were in. You don't know how much to put in so you just poured in half the bottle. Fizzled and dissolved into a bland yellow color, looked like piss. You're starting to get why no one bought it.

Your shades started to fog up so you removed them. Leaving them on the counter next to the other side of the tub.

You start to smell seasalt again. You see some foam form in the middle of the water. The water in the bath slowly turned dark and began spreading out throughout the entire tub. Now it as blue as the deep sea. The water is rocking back and forth towards you, crashing against your chest like waves. Slowly something is emerging from the water. You jolt a bit. You see something black start to slowly pull up from the water. John was hunched over, you can see his neck and shoulders rise from the tub. He sluggishly rises from the deep blue water. His hair, black as night, is drenched again. He slowly pulls his head back as he sits on the other side of the tub. When he's settled you see that his eyes are closed and yet it still looks like he is gazing at the raging tide in the tub. He seems lethargic to open his eyes, like his purple and white lids are heavy. Still, bit by bit he peers up at you.

You try to calm your heart, “shit."

You let out a sigh as you clutch your chest, "you scared me there…”

His head is still tilted down, only now he is glaring at you.

You lean back and rest your arms on the porcelain.

You lower your brows and tilt your head forward and a bit to the side, “this tops what you did to my stove. This and that, both of those things are shitty."

He narrows his eyes even more, "that's the point."

You ask him, "if you want to be alone than why join me in the tub?" 

He lifts up his chin and tilts his head away from you, he's giving you a hostile look.

"I get it, you want to scare me into leaving... yeah..." You sniffle as you run your thumb over your nostril. "It's not going to happen."

His eyes are still narrowed, he is slightly tilting his head up, giving the impression he is looking down on you. "What if I did threaten your life?"

"Yeah..." You smack your lips a few times. "you're not going to do that."

"How are you so certain?" He lowers his chin back down.

"Because you would have days ago."

He lowers his brows and than his eyes. Still seeming so sullen.

"You don't seem like that kind of guy anyway."

He looks back up at you, "you don't know what kind of person I am."

"Sure. But I know what you aren't." You start biting your pinky nail with your front teeth.

"Stop that."

"Stop doing what?" You keep biting your nail.

He doesn't gesture to anything. He just bluntly says " **That.** " 

You look down at your hand. You momentarily pause before you put your hand down, "sorry, but it's just about as rude as showing up clothed to someone's tub while they are taking a bath."

He started to look even angrier at you, "you know what you were doing."

"What?" You look back at him, "oh, do you feel that I'm like... patronizing you? Man, you're like a ghost from the 80's, I didn't think you knew shit about laptops."

"You are doing it again." The water starts rumbling like there is an earthquake.

"Wait man... Hold on." You're starting to get a little worried for him. "What am I doing wrong?"

"Charming me!" He raises his voice at you. "Stop it!"

"What?"

"There's no way you aren't afraid of me! There's no way that you don't mind me scratching at your floors at night and-and- breathing down your neck and-"

"Okay." You stick up your finger at the last point he made, "that one scared me a bit, not gonna lie. Now I just use it as a way of knowing you're behind me. Oh and... waking me up in the middle of the night, now that just comes off as rude."

"What- why are you doing this to me!?"

"Because you were here before me, I don't know... I'm not going to kick you out of your home."

The water starts splashing onto you.

"This. Was Not. **MY HOME!”**

"Okay, alright, I'm sorry." You try to ease him down with your hands. "I'm sorry, I thought it was. I don't know that much about you." You keep trying to use your open palms to calm him but the water just keeps raging on, "why don't you just tell me-"

"No!" He holds his head with both of his hands. He is clawing his fingers into his scalp. 

"You don't have to-" He interrupts you as you try to call him by wailing, 

"STOP IT!"

He yells the word like he is on the verge of tears. He lets go of his hair. He starts curling into himself. It looks like he's hurting himself.

"Okay.” You agree to his terms. “I'll stop talking."

You don't say anything for a long while. The water keeps raging. He keeps digging his fingers into his own skull. You lean your head back and just rest for a while, hoping he will do the same.

The water slowly starts to calm, gradually turning from violent crashing tides...

to a harsh surge of storming waves...

to a swelling surf crushing against you...

to a sweeping current rocking against your chest...

to a fluid, drifting tide pressing against your skin...

to a gentle pushing-and-pulling of light, delicate, sea blue water. 

Now the water feels as gentle as a flowing stream. 

The waves delicately push back and forth until they just don't move at all. The water is completely still. It still smells of salt, you check to see if he's still there. He's holding onto his legs. His knees are up to his chest. Hugging himself with his long wet black sweater’s sleeves wrapped around his arms. 

He's sitting in the blue, foaming sea water.

His hair is still dripping with water. His eyes too. You lean in a bit. He's crying. You sit up a bit to grab a hand towel and place it on top of his head. You start scrubbing him dry again. You scrub behind his ears and all over his head. You take off the towel and look at him. He still looks mad at you, he can be, that's fine. You start dabbing his forehead and you gently dab around his cheeks. You lightly rub underneath one of his eyes and he grabs your wrist. 

"Stop." 

You pull away and nod.

"Stop that."

You look at the wall and than back at him. 

"Stop... just..." His eyes keep welling up with tears.

He lightly breathes the words, _"what do you want from me?"_

You lower your chin into your neck as you raise your eyebrows.

He whispers to you, _"just tell me."_

"Nothing." You shake your head a few times, "wait- no, actually. A bit of privacy."

He lowers his brows at you again, he parts his lips like he's shocked at what you said. Still you continue, "maybe stop waking me up at night? I don't mind you chewing up the power from my controller just don't use my cameras and... **don't** set anything on fire even if your mad." You stick up a finger at him and quickly drop it just as quickly as you put it up. "Just break another thrift-store mug if you're that pissed at me." You gesture with an open palm that you finished your point.

He keeps staring at you as he holds onto his bare knees, he looks even more confused.

You nod your head at him to ask, "anything _you_ want?"

He reels his head back a bit. "This is a trick."

You pause for a moment and think of how to ask this. You can't think of any right way to ask so instead you search your mind for another question, "why do you feel like I'm tricking you?"

"Because..." His eyes glisten as he stares at the bathwater. He sounds like he doesn't want to answer. He glares at you again, "you know why."

"I don't want to... _insult you_..." you really don't know how to ask, "but... you were killed, weren't you?"

He looks down at the tub.

The water is still.

Slowly the blue sea water and white foam starts turning into normal bathwater again.

He drained it of all color. 

It is crystal clear, reflecting the white from the tub.

You ask him something else, "do you know the name of the person who did it?"

He looks up at you.

He turns his gaze away at you, " **yes.** "

"Do you want to look if they're still alive?"

" **No.** " He was still staring at the other side of the room, but his eyes started to look angry.

You stop asking him questions for a while.

He spoke up and lightly shook his head, "I don't want to be tricked again."

"I promise you I'm not going to trick you... _I will_ probably yell at you if you keep sneaking up on me in the bathroom though."

"I **should** leave you alone." He sounds upset with you. "You need some place to **masterbate."**

"I knew it." You rub your entire face with both of your hands. You hear your next words echo into your cupped hands, "I fuckin knew you would watch that." You sniff through your nose and you rub your eyes with the tips of your fingers, "and I still did it. I knew I should have just took a cold one or jacked it in the car."

You hear the water splash a bit from the other side of the tub. You lower your hands into the tub and look back at him. You give him the same glare he is giving you.

"You- you need to give me some space or I'm going to actually get like... **mad.** "

He narrows his eyes at you as he tilts his head back in confusion,

"you..." he sounds as if he is muddled, lightly and quickly muttering, "you _didn't..._ wantmetosee?"

"What!?" You actually raise your voice at him. "Why else would I jack it in the shower, man!?"

He looks away from you for a moment and than back at you. He looks a bit embarrassed with himself... or with the conversation. You don't care which it is. 

"I - **fuck** \- okay, why are you spying on me in the shower, and why are you in my tub?!"

He twinges his eyebrows slightly. Suddenly he reels his head back as he stares in your eyes. 

"Okay... fine... Just...” You sigh, “we need some boundaries.”

He pointed at you. " _You_ touched _me._ " He brought his finger over to himself.

"No I- holy fuck..." you sigh. "I dried you off because I wanted to prove a point that I'm not scared of you, not because I'm going to **trick you** to- you know what... fuck this."

He parts his lips to speak. He looks confused. 

"I'm not going to- assault you or trick you or-" you're getting frustrated. " **You** don't know anything about **me** , man."

He looks down. He's staring at the water but he ends up just looking at your- "Honestly... Now, I'm getting pissed." He looks back up at you as you speak, with shock in his eyes. "You watch me jack off than you assume I was planning on- no- nope. You know what. Fuck it." You start getting out of the tub as you grab a towel to wrap around your hips. "I'm done with this conversation. I'm going to put salt or something in front of my bathroom doors or someshit- I'm not dealing with _this_ anymore."

You leave him in the tub along with the water.

You trail back upstairs, stomping with each step as you climb the stairs.

Fuck that.


	14. Thoughtful Agony

You need to do it...

You have too...

But every time you try to outstretch a hand and take form you just curl it closed again and press it up to your chest. You can't bring yourself to so much as _look_ at him now. You can't believe that you brought all of this... all of this to him and he... he was only trying to help you... he wasn't trying to manipulate you or trick you just... he's been so patient.

He never once yelled at you for waking him up. You thought that he was forcing himself to keep his mouth shut so he wouldn't scare you away- well maybe he was but... you thought it was because he wanted... something out of you.

When he got you that book, the only pink one on the shelf... that he picked that out on purpose... but... recently you searched through all of the titles of the multicolored covers again, each of them are different genres and vastly different stories...

As different as all the colors they're covers are...

You want nothing more than to read them...

You can't bring yourself to touch them...

your hands are soaking wet again...

cold...

always cold...

your soul is dripping but none of the drops hit the floor...

never touching the floor...

you _could_ place your feet onto the ground and let them fall onto the hardwood...

fall like tears.

What is the point... you need to apologize to him...

He didn't do anything wrong... 

You...

You've been in the wrong.


	15. something about the storm brings us unity

You haven't seen him or heard him or got any threats from him **at all** for about two days now. You're actually glad about it, gave you the time you needed to cool down after... after all that. You know he's still here, you can feel static sometimes out of nowhere crawl through your spine. Sometimes you can smell sea salt and not just from the ocean outside. You're sitting down on the couch with your feet on the table again eating doritos and bingeing a show about baking desserts. 

"I used to bake with my dad when I was a kid."

"Shit!" You jumped up a bit. You look over your shoulder and see him besides you.

You tell him, "you startled me."

You sat up and licked your fingers clean of dorito dust.

When you finished you looked at him, expecting him to have something to say,

"I thought about what you said... I wanted to say that..." 

He paused for a moment, small drops of water were softly dripping from his coal black hair.

He gained the nerve to say, "I'm sorry."

"Just... don't do that shit any more."

"No- no... I'm... I think... I believe that I was _projecting_ my own pain onto what I thought of you and I assumed that you were trying to charm me into..." he sighed out of his nose." You seemed honestly insulted that I thought that... little of you... I apologize."

He stopped talking all together and started watching the show instead. He's not much for chatting you guess. Can't lie though, you're really happy that he apologized.

"You're cool." He turned his head to look at you as you spoke, "it's okay, just... do better."

He nodded. With that white glimmer in his eye, you trust he's going to try. You trust him. 

"You can keep watching, I gotta take a leak." You got up and head out to the bathroom.

When you finished up in the washroom downstairs you washed your hands. You glanced over at the navy blue towel as you turned off the faucet.

You didn't even need to think about it... as soon as you got the idea you did it.

* * *

"Back." You were carrying two deep blue towels in front of your chest. "Okay."

You put one on top of his head and the other around his shoulders to cover his body. You start rubbing his hair again, this time roughly massaging his scalp. You leave the towel on top of his head as you start patting down his shoulders with the other one. He laughed. You looked up at him. He looked up at the towel that you left on his head and pointed a finger up. You start laughing too. You start rubbing his chest with one of the ends of the towel. He lets you dry off his black sweater. You wrap the entire thing around him and you start drying off his face with the towel you left on his head. When you cover his entire face he laughs with his mouth closed. You lightly dab his forehead again and than look at his face if you missed a spot. He smiles up at you and moves forward to kiss you on the lips. Suddenly he moves his head back, his eyes widen as he places a hand delicately over his gasping mouth. He's gazing into your eyes, as his own water, looking to see your reaction. 

You blink once at him and than sit back down on the couch besides him.

You stare blankly at the screen for a while. A long while.

You aren't even sure if he's besides you anymore.

You turn over to look, there's nothing there except for two completely dry towels. He left in a hurry, one of the Navy blue towels just finished dropping onto the black leather cushion. You have to catch yourself not to laugh. You drop your smile just as quickly as you put it on. You start watching tv again as you sigh. You go to put your feet back up on the table but all of a sudden something scoots it right from underneath you. Just like always.


	16. Reverberating Thoughts

_**How could you let yourself do that?!** _

You didn't-

You weren't-

You keep pacing back and forth, floating from one side of the study to the other. Wind is blowing as you try to calm yourself. You hear gusts of air as you try to soothe your soul and your pulsing, drumming, throbbing mind. 

**You kissed him!**

He just sat back down and he- he couldn't even look at you!

He was so angry with you too back when you looked- when you looked at his-

And you saw him- 

and it made you so angry because it made you... flushed. 

**UGH!**

You have to take up form again... you have to say something to him... 

You have to apologize and promise that, that you two will just get used to hardly talking... 

It's your home, it's his house...

He said he's willing to work with you on this...

You're okay...

_You're okay..._

_Ohhhhh **hhhhHHHH!**_ He probably thinks that you were spying on him! That you watched him jack off on purpose!!! You were just trying to scared him and it! It... **UGH!** He probably thinks that you are a disgusting pervert and he's repulsed by you now for- for... You have to say you're sorry. You have to come clean and be completely upfront and honest about what you were doing. You apologized to him before... AND LOOK AT HOW THAT TURNED OUT! mmmmhhhhHHH!!! You are going to c _ompletely botch this..._ **again!** There's only so much that he's going to let slide... this is probably the thing that's going to set him off.

He was immobilized. Completely ridgid.

Filled with... with... disgust!

When you... you... **"UGH"**.... you need to just talk with him again... 

You need to wait for when you get the chance too...

For now you have to leave and wander through the forest again... your most recent windstorm just knocked over the lamp.


	17. soft declaration

Very next day after he kissed you, you skipped breakfast and headed out to the local grocery food chain. You picked up a donut to eat on the drive back, counts as lunch. You've got a few things in your trunk that you need for the house, some orange juice, milk, some disinfectant wipes, some bleach, if he really _is_ going to leave you alone in the bathroom you might as well pick up some lubricant, you grabbed some more cereal, some ready-made meals, a few other things, and the item that you actually came to buy.

When you got home you dragged all of the bags in from your trunk into your kitchen in one go. You put away the milk and orange juice and threw the meals in the freezer. You start sorting through the bags, you can smell salt water again and you feel the hair on the back of your neck stand up. You start looking for... found it! You hide it behind your back and turn around, just as you thought, he was standing right behind you. 

He was giving you a strained look with sorrowful, heavy lidded eyes, he was almost pouting but he was still completely dry, no water anywhere on him.

You took a breath through your nose and smile as you breathed it out. You showed him what was behind your back and then extend it out to him with a gentle open palm. There is a single red rose between your index and your middle finger, you took off the plastic wrap around the stem once you noticed it didn't have thorns. 

He took it from your hand. Lightly holding it in both hands as he stared down at it. His lips parted open. He looked up at you, like he was stunned.

You ask him, "do you like it?" 

He lightly nods twice to answer your question.

He stares down at the rose as he asks you, "you... like men?" 

He flickers his sea-blue irises you at you to see your reaction.

You nod like it's not a big secret.

"You... like me?" He slightly tilts his head after he speaks.

"Well I got you the rose." You tilt your chin down as you look into his eyes, "also I had a dream about you." You say that like the answer is 'maybe,' when the rose in his hands clearly screams yes.

"What was it about?" He sounds interested in you telling him more.

"You crawled through my bathroom mirror and- stared at me for a really long time."

"Was that it?" He lifts the rose up to his nose.

"You were covered in like this thick black tar or something and just stared at me... and I wasn't even surprised, like I just expected you to start bleeding from your mouth."

He gently asked you as he pulls the rose down, "bleeding from my... mouth?"

"Yeah..?"

He pushes his lips to one side and the skin around his nose crinkles up, like you said something strange and repulsive.

You make a strained face as you smile at him, "you sure you wouldn't do any of that?" 

"I didn't ever once think about crawling through the mirror..."

"Black ooze, though?" You ask him.

"I don't like that. It makes me feel drained." He looks at his hand and his palm starts oozing out black tar to show you that he can, and then it slowly disappears. He looks back up at you, "in your dream, how did you feel about me?"

"I don't know- I felt like we were close?" You shrug. "Like we got used to each other."

He leans his head forward as he gently tilts it. He looks a bit interested in what you have to say. There is a white shine dancing in his sea blue eyes. Like the sun riding the ocean waves. You look up at the ceiling and nervously start scratching the back of your neck, it still feels a bit staticy. You sigh out your nose and look back at John, "were you mad at me because you had a... crush on me?"

He pauses and parts open his lips like he's about to speak, he lightly breathes in air but closes his lips instead of speaking. He lowered his eyes to the floor without tilting his head down. He seemed disappointed in... himself. He nodded once, the answer was yes.

"If you promise me that you won't sneak up on me anymore... Than how about we... date?"

His eyes widen as he glances up at you. He lowers his eyebrows, he stares into your eyes. He gives you a light, caring smile.

You give him a toothy grin. You catch yourself by biting down on your lip.

He walks up to you, he extends both his hands, one empty and one filled with your affections. He grabbed your cheeks and pulls your head down so he can kiss you.

Right now he doesn't smell anything like salt water and his hand's don't feel cold against your skin. In fact he feels warm, like he's alive. You start kissing him back. When your lips break away he places the rose down in your hand. He gives you a bright grin, so large that his eyes are shut closed. He walks into the laundry room right next to your fridge. You open the door after him and as usual he's missing. You let out a gentle sigh.

You know there's a small vase in the study. You make your way there and move the glass vase on top of the piano. You place the flower in the vase and turn around for a moment. You smile to yourself. You hear a small giggle and playfully turn your head back around. The flower vase is filled with water. You laugh. One of the keys on the piano starts moving up and down. Releasing three soft notes into the air. The piano starts playing a cheerful melody and you watch as the keys bounce up and down. The world's best piano player, playing a song for you and only you. When he's finished he starts playing you another song. You sit down on the end of the piano stool. He starts tapping a few light, high pitched keys, you laugh, he must like that you're besides him.

You listen to him play for a while longer.

A long while longer.

Occasionally having to catch yourself when you hum along or try to tap the keys.

You thoughtlessly tapped the tips of your fingers against the air above the piano.

You stopped yourself from looking as thoughtless as you actually are, but still, you were caught. You can hear a hollow giggle in the room. Echoing around the walls. Reverberating through not just your mind but your body, you lightly breath in air and softly sigh it out.


	18. The Deepest Shade of Blue

You were breezing through the house, searching for just where...

there he is!

Dave is taking a nap after all of that heavy lifting. He must have just laid down for a moment and then fell asleep on the leather couch in your living room. His leg is kicked over the top of the couch and his mouth is wide open. You cover your mouth to try to hold in your snickers, he looks so goofy like that. 

You only just started dating yesterday, probably not a polite thing to kiss him while he's asleep, so instead you lean over him and lightly grab the blanket from the top of the couch, right next to Dave's knee. Slowly dragging down the soft fuzzy sheet as steady as you could. You delicately place it on top of him and beam once it's secure. You didn’t mean to but you made his hair stand up on end. Your shoulders tense up as your upper arms jolt up in panic. You focus on putting the strands back down. It works. You let out a sigh in relief. His blanket start fluttering a bit like it’s in a gust of wind. Dave stirs and mumbles, kicking his leg down to the sofa and turning to face you. Your soul completely tenses up. You can feel static serge through your essence. All of a sudden... Dave sighs like he’s comfortable. You sigh again, this time completely aware of what will happen. He smacks his lips together, he has a peaceful look on his face... he likes the wind blowing on him! 

_'wait- didn't he...?'_

You look over at all of the boxes.

_'He did!'_

* * *

“John?" He peaked his head into the study.

You were floating in the air as you read one of the science fiction novels he bought you.

You put down the black covered book onto the red velvet sofa and floated outside of the room.

You glance at the rose he gave you and then gaze back to your new lover.

You focused on pulling yourself together and dropped down to the floor right behind him.

He turned around when he heard your feet hit the ground.

"Did you put my fan together?”

“Yes...?” You aren't sure why he's asking. It's obvious that it was you.

“That is- Ha! John, that is so cool of you!" He smiles like he is about to laugh, _'he thinks this to be funny...'_ "how can I make it up to you?”

“Hmm You bought new furniture for the study... I always wanted something like that..."

You're looking forward to him tossing out that disgusting old couch. You shake your head lightly and look off to the distance, you turn away from him and think of what to say... "you've already 'made it up' to me."

“Anything else you’d like?" He nudges you on with his words, "come on, anything.”

You narrow your eyes a bit. When you turn back to look at him you put on wide-eyes.

“How about you buy me... _a bookshelf?”_

He doesn’t seem to have an interest in reading himself. He _may claim_ that it is pointless because you already have one.

“Okay. Hey- since I'm redoing things want me to get rid of that old bookshelf? Replace it with something cleaner?"

_'What? He really means it...?'_

"I- I would really like that..." You put your hand up to your chin. You touch the very bottom of your parted lips with the very tip of your two fingers. You notice that your eyes have been focused on nothing and off to the side. You refocus your gaze back to Dave, who is looking at you with just as much dumbfounded amazement that you just displayed. 

He closed his lips and promptly asked you, "what types of books do you like to readé?” He coughed, "read?"

You moved your fingers up a bit to cover your laugh. 

You lightly move your hand off of your face and hover it near your cheek as you answer,

“Fiction, more like classic novels. Or hmm... I liked one of the novels you got me a lot... do you think you could look into if the author wrote more titles? I like her work."

“I bought the book on my laptop... there’s a site I know that I can show you that has book summaries and reviews. I can show you now, come with me into the kitchen and we can look up if she wrote more together."

He gave you another one of those vivid half-smiles, and continued to wear it as he turned to face the kitchen. You could see his bangs flicker to the side as it swirled with him to face away from you. You caught a glimmer of his crimson red eyes. The hue makes you feel a bright heat, like burning cinnamon. He turns back around to face you, he smiles at you with an even brighter glow when he sees you still standing behind him.

He outstretches his hand for you to take.

"Aren't you coming?"

"Oh-" You slowly lift your hand to place into his, "okay." 

Your fingers are slightly shaking as you lower your hand into his.

He gently grips his hand around yours. It feels warm and full of life.

You can feel his pulse through his palm. 

You notice, all of a sudden, that your hand is glowing with a honeyish hue. 

You can still see blue and purple veins but you're starting to look... alive again...

You hear him chuckle at you.

All of a sudden you notice that you've been standing here for about a full minute. 

Your eyes widen and you look up into his shades.

He lightly laughs at you again.

The laugh is in no way condescending.

There's no hint of cruelty no, no spite either.

You can feel his warmth.

It's right here in your hand. 

It's in the way he tilts his head at you.

It's in the way his lips pull into a loving, caring grin.

You can't help but match his warmth with a smile of your own.


	19. dreaming and walking

The smell of salt water is filling the air completely, something about it brings you a tranquil peace you never once felt while doing _anything_ like this.

You are shirtless and practicing sword fighting techniques in your backyard. You figure that you should stay in shape, You have to keep up with your training anyway, make sure all those beatdowns weren't worth nothing. That your skill doesn't fade and all of that just goes to waste. You haven't trained once since you moved till today, and well, you definitely want to keep up your current physique. You need to keep up your current build, especially if you're going to be dating someone as cute as _your_ new boyfriend is.

"Why do you practice sword fighting?"

His voice is coming from behind you. He outta be on the back porch. 

"It's the way I was raised." You hold out your sword and turn your head towards him, you notice that he is laying down on his stomach while he's watching you right where you thought he'd be. 

"Really? Weird." He slaps his mouth shut with both hands. His elbows are resting on the wood.

You flourish your sword by twirling it in front of you once and than behind you to slip it into the sheath resting on your hip. You slouch again, and smile at him. "I know right?"

He smiles back at you and chuckles. 

His eyes trail down from your shades to your pecs. 

He quickly focuses his gaze back onto your sunglasses.

He grinned at you again, trying to act like he's still laughing at your words.

You slowly pull your sword out again and practice striking the air. Never once do you cut yourself. Your blade never touches anything but the sea salt scented air. Speaking of which you will need to clean your blade after... as well as the sheath on your hip. 

You continue extending your blade in light but quick swipes. All the while suppressing a smile, you can't allow yourself to feel too much pride. When you are boastful that's when you make mistakes... still, John just checked you out. You can't help but feel your chest surge with a glowing plume. You're heart is beating a million beats a minute. You can feel John's eyes on your arms, on your back, all over your chest. You hold your sword up and steady in both your hands as you glance over to him. He is looking right at your abs. Tracing his eyes up you body back to your shades. You try your best to pretend you didn't notice. You turn your attention back to your training. Praying all the while that now is not the time you make a major fuck up in your usual routine. 

You have done these techniques so often it is practically a dance to you.

You take a step backwards and face the forest. You swipe your blade towards the left as you step forward, then towards your right and step forward again. You point your blade down, in one hand, and quickly kicked up both of your legs from the ground and spun your body, flat, in the air. Exactly when you land you pull up your blade, one handed, above your head. You violently slice it down. You pull it back up. You rolled the handle of your blade around the back of your hand as you straightened out your back. You tossed your blade up and spun it. You caught the handle with one hand. Right after you caught it you did a front flip without your hands touching the ground. You land on both of your feet. You are staring towards the evergreens again. You look towards John as you resheath your sword. John is staring up at you with starry eyes. You turn your body towards him and begin stretching your arms. You lock one of your arms in between your other ones elbow and pull. John's watching your every move. You lightly smile at him as you flip your hair. You tell him,

"Think that's enough for dotay." 

'Shit.'

You cough and John titters, lightly laughing and covering his mouth with one of his hands. He smiles up at you. "That was amazing."

"Thanks." You stop stretching and put your arms down. "Still not as amazing as your piano skills."

"Well..." He says the words like he is sighing, "I used to have lessons." 

“Me too.”

There's a brief pause between the two of you. John glances down at the handle of your sword and then back up at you with a smile. Maybe he wants you to say more but you aren’t interested in telling him about the life you’ve chosen to abandoned. Maybe you’ll make clear you abandoned it. You tell him,

”I decided when I moved here I was going to make some changes in my life, start really living. Eat breakfast every morning and actually get up too and not sleep through the day... seeing you every morning really helps.”

You feel like once you blink he’s just going to disappear. Nope. There he is. Still laying down on his belly. Looking up at you. His face flushed with color. You feel a blush creep it’s way onto your cheeks too. You feel no shame in it. Why hide it. You two _are_ dating. You walk up as you remove your sheath and your sword from your hips. You place it on the porch right behind you as you sit right besides him.

John is laying down besides you. He is looking up at you rather than the approaching sunset. As you turn your head to get a better look at him you try to flip your hair again. Your bangs are sticking to your forehead, you’re probably more red than you'd like to be in this moment. Not that that matters. John is looking up at you and gazing into your eyes. Normally, you’d feel exposed but right now you feel like your not showing him enough.

”You’re really handsome, John.” You confess without a second thought. 

He looks down at the sand walkway in front of him. “Thank- Thank you.” He takes a moment to say, “you’re very dreamy too.” He lifts up his head to look at you. He turns towards you as he brings up his arms to make a point but only ends up falling on his side. “Wha-Wait! I mean that you’re a dream- no! What I meant was that you’re dreamy because being with you feels like a dream. Uh- cause I can’t sleep! It feels really strange being with you- no wait! Different! It feels different! Probably because you make me feel so warm, I mean I’ve been feeling so much warmer than usual. I always just felt cold and clammy and now I feel so different. You know it’s like how you normally feel and right now you’re so hot. **WAIT! I mean- I meant- tha** -that I was cold and now I’m warm and you were warm and now your sweaty- wa- oh god.” He buries his face into his hands as he turns to lay on his back. He groans _“mmmh **ughhh,** ”_ into his hands.

You smile and lean over him to kiss the back of his hand. You continue to hovered over him as he lays on his back. You confess, “I know what you meant.”

He hums and lightly pulls down his hands to gaze up at you, he looks like he just tormented himself and he’s still getting over it. 

“You know..." You smile at him as you say, "I think that you’re really cute.”

His eyes shot open again. You lightly chuckle and than lightly kiss his lips again. “I’ve been to embarrassed to say that.”

John hummed again. _“HmmHMM.”_ He sounded like he was frustrated with something. Maybe he wants to say more or wants you to keep going, you pick the ladder.

"Maybe that’s part of why you didn’t scare me, you were too handsome to be terrifying.”

He angrily hummed again. **_“HMMMhmm.”_**

"And the way you looked at me after you kissed me. I almost lost it- I would have kissed your face all over if I would have kissed you back. I didn’t want to scare you off- but man... you have the most kissable face. I don’t know if it’s your eyes or your smile or- you know when you turn your head slightly and there’s this dent right next to your eyes, well you look really good when you give me one of those looks. Those looks like you think I’m dumb.”

You were about to say more but John cut you off after he quickly ripped his hands off of his face. “I don’t think you’re dumb!” He is still laying on his back.

"I know, I just like that you look at me like you think I’m dumb it’s really-” you can’t let him know that you’re hot for that look he gives you, “it’s really sweet.”

 _"Hmmmm!”_ He starts angrily humming into his hands again. You keep hovering over him. He is looking directly up at you and into your eyes.

You confess, “I think the way you’re humming at me right now is cute too.”

He lifted up his head and pecked you on the lips. Right after he did that, he crossed his arms and looked off to the side. He looks like he's pretending to be upset, so you smile and pull away to give him space. He shimmies his back to lay against you. He made you lift up your hand as he kept pushing against your wrist for you to move. He wants you to hold his hand that’s resting on his chest. You lightly graze your thumb over the back of his hand. You couldn’t care less about looking at the horizon. Couldn’t care less about the sun or the waves or the clouds or the colors, the only thing you want to see is John Egbert smiling.

He looks up at you and then down at your hand and then back up at you. He laughs. Laughs like he’s embarrassed with himself but relieved that you took the wheel and saved him from crashing. 

“Those things you said...” you confess to him, “about feeling like you’re in a dream when I’m with you... I feel the same way.”


	20. Personal Questions

Dave just got up. You floated out of the study and watched him as he walked downstairs. Dave is setting up his usual breakfast. You take from outside the kitchen and call out o him, "is it okay that I join you?"

"Of course. You don't have to ask." Dave tells you. "It's your house too."

You walk in and sit down in your usual chair as you roll your eyes. "I promised I won't sneak up on you anymore."

"Well I appreciate that." He tells you as he preps a bowl of cereal. You notice that he isn't wearing his shades again, so you can see his vermillion eyes. 

"Soooo I should walk in from another room and just tell you if I'm coming in?" You ask him, "that good?"

"Perfect." He shoots you a thumbs up and lightly flips his hair at you. You noticed that he likes doing that, you think he's doing it just to get at your heart. You'd hate to admit that it's working but he's laying it on a little thick. You rest your head on your hands as you place your elbows on the table. You look at him as he places his bowl down at the table and takes his seat.

You tell him, "I want to ask you a few questions." 

He points his spoon at you, "shoot."

"Okay..." You try to scan your mind for a few good 'get to know you' questions. "What's your job?"

"I'm an artist, sell prints of photos I take and some paintings, drawings, whatever."

"Oh..." You tell him, "I've seen those..."

"Do you think they are shitty?" He asks you. 

"Uh... They aren't my taste."

He nods, "then you get my works." He shoves a spoonful of milk and cereal marshmallows into his mouth

"You don't want people... to... think they look good?" You tilt your head. 

"That's the point." He keeps nodding. "You get me."

You lower your brows. He is a bit strange, isn't he?

"Ohhh-kay..." You look up at the ceiling and try to think of another question. "Yoooou said that... you moved here to get some inspiration, right?"

"Yeah..." He wipes his mouth with a napkin as he somberly tells you, "living in the city made me feel... drained."

"How do you feel now?" You question him, with care in your voice.

"More alive than ever." He looks up at you with a gentle smile on his face. He brings his spoon up to his lips and slurps some fruity milk. You snort at that. He swallows down the fruitloop soup and asks you, "do you feel the same?"

"I... I feel a bit happier." You shyly tell him.

"You look a lot happier." He gestures with his free hand at your being. 

You look down at your hand and see you have a bit of a golden color to your skin, you're still pale but there's a soft honey glow and only a few blue veins... none are black or purple, just blue. Still... you notice that your 'skin' is transparent. You look up at him and he gives you another gentle smile. You quickly think of another question,

"You said you're from Texas, where?" 

"Houston." He answers. 

"So you're from the city? That explains why you don't have that much of an accent."

"That _much_ of one?" He raises his brow up at you. 

"Sometimes you pronounce words..." not weird... "different."

"A lot of people talk like I do now." He tries to make his point by asking you, "didn't people have like weird accents in the 80's?"

"Sure... people on tv did." You shake your head.

"didn't people use like... _slang_ too?"

"Yeah... like quote, un-quote _'young people'_ did." You sigh lightly and gaze towards the fridge as you think of another question. 

"When's your birthday?"

"December 3rd." He answers you and than asks, "When's yours?"

"April 13th." You raise another question. "Who taught you how to sword fight?"

"My bro. He died recently."

"Oh... My condolences." You look down at the table ahead of you.

"It's alright, it ended up being the push I needed to move out of the city. I'd been looking for a change in my life for a long while..."

"I'm happy you took the plunge," you hum as you think of another question. "Whaaat are your hobbies? I mean like... do you have any that I don't know about?"

"I like a lot of things online, eventually I'll show you some stuff." He shrugs, "how about you?"

You slightly scrunch up one side of your face as you think to yourself, _'how can things on the internet be a hobby?'_

You readjust your face and answer, "I mostly read and watch movies now. That's about it for me."

"I don't know, man." He took a small sip from his bottle of apple juice. "You are pretty talented."

"You mean with my abilities?" You tilt your head as you ask him.

"Yeah, didn't you have to work on it?" It's a reasonable question that he asked you, and correct actually. 

"I did actually, took me a while to get used to a few things." You confess to him, "if I didn't focus enough on keeping my feet to the ground I'd just slip into the floor or lift off of the ground, doesn't happen that often anymore... only if I get really distracted. Also, took me a while to write with blood or black ooze, and it really isn't blood... just looks that way.. It's more like _aaaa_... projection."

"Like when you set my stove on fire?"

"Oh! I'm uh- I'm really sorry about that... I got uh.. I got nervous and needed an out... but... yeah... that wasn't real..."

"Could... you actually set my stove on fire like that?" He doesn't sound afraid of you... he just sounds a bit concerned but namely... interested. 

"I... I think I can but I've never tried anything that... well, violent." You assure him, "I don't want to hurt people and I actually like this house for the most part... um... how could you tell that I wasn't going to hurt you?"

"I saw it in your eyes." He lightly points up a finger at you with a relax palm. "You just looked hurt, not... violent."

"How could you tell?" You lower your brows. 

"I know what violent eyes look like."

You lift up your brows a bit. You don't push him further on that.

You should change the topic...

Maybe now is a good time to ask a question that's been on your mind,

“So... am I your type?”

He looks at you like you just asked a stupid question. “Completely.”

“How so?”

“You’re cute, honest and you said you like me." He mutters, "you hit all of my weak points."

" _Yeaaah and-_ I’m very opinionated!"

“Yep.” He nods.

"And nosy!" You continue.

"Uh hu."

“I can be very stubborn, you know that!"

“Ohhhh Yeah.” He sounds like he's too happy to agree with that. 

“Hey!” You raise your voice at him. _'So rude!'_

Dave sits up and leans over to kiss you. “Yep, your my type."

You let out a light and awkward, **"hhuu."** So strained it sounded like a bike horn.

"I really like that your stubborn and opinionated." He avows to you. "Makes me feel like I’m living with someone who knows what he wants and let’s me know it.”

Your voice still sounds a bit strained as you speak, “really?”

“I prefer things this way, if you didn’t tell me what you wanted I’d just be left guessing or constantly second guessing myself like an asshole." Dave sounds pretty certain about the reason for why he likes you. "You make me feel like I know everything that your thinking.”

“Hmmm... not everything.” You sound a bit more sorrowful then you had hoped. 

“Are you still having trouble..." he sounds a bit heartbroken, "trusting me?”

You can feel his pain through his words...

“I can’t just plunge into this thing head first... I..." You glance down at the table and back up at the man sitting across from you. "Dave, I just need... maybe more time.”

“Take all the time you need." He makes himself smile, a loving gentle smile, at you.

Your lips lightly part open.

He lightly shakes his head,

"I’m not going anywhere.”


	21. a day spent with you

You open up the front door, you just got back from your most recent shopping trip.

"Welcome home, Dave!" You can hear your favorite ghost's voice from inside the study. He took form long enough to tell you, "let me just finish up this chapter then I'll be with you."

Perfect. This gives you just enough time to unload everything in your gigantic plastic bags. You head into the living room to get everything set up. You put the gray bags down on the leather sofa and start unwrapping each candle. The larger one was covered in paper to keep the glass from breaking. The smaller white tea lights were in a single plastic container. 

You bought a few red jars to house the small tea lights in.

You place the little circular candles in the maroon tinted jars and then place those all around the living room. You place the larger candle in the middle of the table. It has long rectangular candle with a black matte glass and a long thin burning wood wick. Apparently when the candle lights up it creates a horizontal flame. 

You sort through the bag and search for the long fire lighter you bought.

While you were at it, you took the opportunity to take the other items you bought out of the large plastic bags. You pull out the memory foam pillow you bought him for his lower back and strip off the paper packaging. You place the insanely soft baby blue sheet you bought him right next to it. It was already wrapped in a white bow to keep it together. You took out a small package of white fuzzy cashmere socks, then place it next to the blanket.

If he cannot eat any snacks than at least he can be comfortable. 

You pulled out the last item as you got out the lighter, It was a quilted navy blue robe. The robe was fluffed as a pillow and is probably ankle-length on him. You lay it down on the top of the couch and then remove the lighter from it's packaging. You toss all of the trash into one of the bags and stick them all in the completely empty waste bin for now.

You start lighting up all of the tea lights around the room, one by one flicking the flame on and off as you go around the entire room. When you're finished you walk up to the long oval candle sitting down in the middle of your mahogany table. 

It crackles. Looks and sounds just like a miniature fireplace. Smells exactly like cinnamon and spice. It's perfect.

You slide open the drawer under the table. You drop in the lighter and slide the door close as you turn around to look down at the couch again. You tweak a few things. 

You hear footsteps from outside the room. _'Shit.'_

You hurry and turn around to grab the controller and turn on your playstation. You quickly set up netflix, you've done the gesture many times before but in your haste you put on hulu instead. _'Shit!'_ You quickly exit the app and put on Netflix. 

"Can I come in?" He lightly calls out to you. You were glad he asked.

"Just a moment." You quickly tap your thumbs along the D-pad, typing out, '1980' into the search bar. You grab the charger and plugged it into the controller, readying it for him to hold. You place it back down on the table. 

"Alright." You stand up straight and look at the doorway. "Come in."

He smiles at you as he peaks his head in from the doorframe. He glances around the room and looks at the candles and than back at you. You take off your shades and allow him to see your red eyes, "I thought that you'd like to watch a movie with me."

He beamed up at you. "Like a date?"

You give him a soft smile, "it is a date."

He happily bounced up and ran around the table to hug you. You feel a bit surprised at the gesture but then again he's already kissed your lips. He tightly embraced you and drifted side to side a few times before letting you go. John turned to look down at the couch, "what is all this?"

"It's for you." You tell him, you gesture for him to take a seat.

You pull apart the socks to free them of their plastic bindings and then hold up one of John's feet. You slide the sock over his foot. When you dropped his foot John blurted out, "HA!" He started pounding his feet against the floor and gleefully giggling to himself. _"I can't believe this!"_

"What? What?" You look up at him. "What's going on?" 

John got down on the floor and pressed his lips against yours. When he pulled away he beamed you a large grin. "Never. _**Never.**_ Have I been able to actually wear clothes for longer than a _second._ " He lifted up his foot to show you his sock. He gestured to it with his hands. "Then you just put it on me and _there it is!_ **Right on my foot!** " 

You have to try hard to keep yourself from staring right at his bare thighs. You focus on his sock until his foot touch the ground again. He sits back up on the leather couch, slightly bouncing up after his bottom his the sofa. He seems excited for you to put on the other. You smile as you take his foot and slip it on him. You grab the robe and offer to put it on him. He stands up and gently takes it from your hands.

He points at you as he gestures for you to "turn around and close your eyes." He demands that from you, he still seems excited but his firm, yet adorable, tone tells you he means business. You smile as you obliged. 

It sounded to you like he was stripping off his sweater, "I'm so happy to be free of this ugly thing!" He slammed his old black sweater into the trash bin and tied the trash bag up. He grabbed it and tossed it out the room. You could hear the 'whap!' as it hit the wall just outside the door. 

You kept your eyes closed and facing away from him. He must be putting on the robe you bought for him to wear. You hear the sound of fabric sinking to the floor.

"You have got to be kidding me." John sounded irked as he mumbled to.

"What is it?" You ask him.

"Don't turn around till I say so!"

You weren't going to but you figure that he's probably topless.

"Uh..." You hear the sounds of footsteps behind you. "Okay- don't open your eyes but turn around."

"Alright." You turn around and kept your eyes shut.

John tells you to "hold out your arms." You obliged as he places the robe into your hands. You grab onto it and help him get the robe on, one arm at a time, he slipped into the new navy blue robe. You can hear fabric ruffling around, he must be tying a knot together along his waist. "You can open your eyes now." 

You open your eyes. You ask him, "what happened?"

"I can't..." John takes in a deep breath and lets out a sigh from his nose. He sounds annoyed when he says, "wear clothes unless you put them on me."

"Really?" You lower your brows and quickly ask, "why?"

"I don't know!" He lifts up his arms and tilts his head to the side. He shakes his head as he says, "It just is that way!"

"Maybe because I'm like... made of like... material and you're just a soul so you have to-"

"Don't make this complicated." He points up a finger at you.

You smile at him, he's keeping you from rambling. You kind of like that about him, he can tell you when it's time to stop and move on... think that's a good trait to have for someone as loose-lipped as you. You grab the blanket and slip it out of its bow. You lift it up and twirl it around his shoulders. He holds onto it, placing his hands over the sheet and his heart. You pick up the pillow and place it in the very middle of the couch, "it's for your back, babe." You didn't mean to call him that... it just slipped.

"Thank you..." He lightly says, "sweetheart." 

You looked up at him, he was awkwardly smiling. He forced his lips closed but was obviously struggling to hold in his grin. You didn't even try to hide yours, he always puts a smile on your face with everything he does. He started smiling as he stripped of his sheet. He sat up against the pillow and placed the powder blue blanket on his lap. 

He looked up at you and then bit down on his lip again. He opened his mouth and lingered for a few seconds before asking, "can you sit down, please?"

You grab the controller from the table. You placed the controller into his hands. Then you sit down on the couch a few inches away from him. He narrowed his eyes at you and pouted, you guess he maybe wanted you too... 

You scooch over and sit right up against his side. He purses his lips and moves them over to one side. He's still pouting, then he smiles at you. He turns towards you and moves up your hand. He lifts your arm over your shoulders as he rests his head on your chest. He gets up a bit and grabs his blanket. He lifts it up in the air to spread it out and covers the two of you. He nuzzles his head back into your chest as he sighs.

He wanted you to snuggle up to him. He took the initiative to show you exactly what it was he wanted. You're heart feels like it's about to pound right out of your chest. He's being adorable _and_ forward. He's more than just 'your type' he's basically your ideal partner. 

He took the controller back into his hands, it's wire was underneath the sheet he just placed over the two of you. John looked back up at you. You thought he was going to ask you for help selecting a movie. Instead, he moves to kiss you on the lips without warning. The feeling of his lips against yours melts your heart and completely numbs your mind. You lean to the side, towards the table, and slowly zone out. John starts shifting right next to you, _"Dave?"_ You slowly blink and lightly reopen your eyes. _"Daaave?"_ You let out a sigh. You turn towards John and ask, "did you call my name?" He nods and smiles at you. 

"Sorry." You tell him. "You're just being so sweet to me. Got right at my heart."


	22. Loose Petals

You sigh as you twirl the rose Dave gave you in between your fingers. You materizalied yourself in the study so you could touch it's petals. Each one was soft and red like his eyes.

You keep twiddling around with the leaves around the steam. When you touch the petals again a few of them drop down to the floor. You kneel down to the ground and gently pick them up. You hold them in the palm of your hand. Each one will slowly start to wilt. wither. die. You stare down at the petals and divert your eyes over to the rose. 

It was already starting to wilt, wither and die too... 

"It's starting to get old." 

At the sound of Dave's voice you look at the doorway. He's wearing his shades and leaning against the doors open threshold. He's holding another plastic bag in his hands. 

"I know that you like the plants, you're always watering them so I figured that something like this would be better." He uncovered what was in the bag, revealing to you a small black plastic pot filled with a few lovely lavender roses. "There are holes at the bottom so I need to get like a plate or something."

"I can take care of it." You happily take the potted flowers out of his hands. You examine the paper slip in the dirt. It said that the roses are a bread called 'ocean song.' "They are beautiful." You look back up into Dave's shades. "Thank you, sweetheart." 

Dave smiles and tilts back his head slightly. He's starting to go brainless again.

You take the roses in the bag and take off the small vase you placed the old red rose in. You rest the new light lavender ones down on the piano, making sure the pot was still covered by the gray bag, you can fix it up later. For now you take the old rose and the vase and place them down on the desk. Everything can be fixed up later.

You walk back to Dave.

You take both of his hands. 

You kiss him on the lips.

There’s a feeling in your heart...

One that you are sure of but you need more time...

Still more time.

Dave smiles down at you. Shining a beautiful, smile. A caring smile, filled with happiness.

You can't help but smile back at him. He's goofy grin is just to funny. You laugh. 

He presses his lips against your smile. You kiss him back.

Each moment you grow more and more certain.

Each moment you grow more and more sure...

But you can't let yourself play the fool...

Yet you fear that you already are...

Dave sighs and smiles. Tilting his head like he has no thoughts in them whatsoever.

If anyone is a lovefool here, it's him. 

You laugh again and he pulls you into a hug.

You can't help yourself you keep laughing. 

How can you care for lost petals and an already dying rose?

You have a bundle of roses now, each time a flower dies a new one will grow in its place. 

You simply need to nurture it. 


	23. a good morning

You get up from bed as you stretch your arms and yawn as you put on your shades. You're wearing nothing but sweatpants. You grab your robe and stick in one arm as you kick your feet into some slippers. It's a slow morning, you're tired from all the heavy lifting you did the other day after you watched that movie with John. You're trying to get your darkroom in order. You set up several tables you bought for cheap at one of the antique stores. You also found some old cassette tapes from his time. You put them under your bed. You're saving them as a surprise for John, figured he might like listening to something old but familiar. Plus, if he hates it there's always YouTube.

You open up your bedroom door and start heading down the hall- wait... you smell eggs cooking downstairs, along with bacon and... is that toast? You quickly stomp downstairs in your sweatpants and robe. Your slippers pound against each step as you head into the kitchen to see just what is going on. John is at the stove, still wearing that navy blue robe and white socks. One of his finger is pressing up against the power outlet while he's using his other hand to flip a pancake with a wooden spatula. 

"Oh," John noticed you. "you weren't supposed to be up till I was done."

You're completely blown away. Your mouth is slowly dropping open.

He continued speaking, "I thought you deserved something nice after all that heavy lifting... and it's a thank you for all you've done for me."

He smiled at you. You're mind was searching for the words. You noticed that your mouth is gaping open so you shut it and force yourself to give him a small smile.

"What are you waiting for? Eat your first plate." He points behind him with the spatula at the table, you look and see that he set you up some water and orange juice and he made a plate with two eggs and a smiling strand of bacon. 

You sit down and you don't even know what to say, you guess you could start with, "thank you, John- I... you did all this? For me?"

John set down a large plate with two pancakes on it for you and kissed your forehead. "Of course!" He hugged you, holding onto you. John rubbed the side of his face against your shoulder. Happily nuzzling into you. He stops to tell you, "I like what you did to the study for me... it was very sweet of you -and hey! You know what?! I haven't been wet since the first time we kissed!"

"If you were a girl I'd be concerned." You mutter under your breath.

He laughs and kisses your cheek.

You're surprised at how fast he turned from a poltergeist to a... well a boyfriend...?

You hear the toaster go off, tossing something up into the air. 

"Oh!" He _literally_ slid over to the toaster and grabbed a plate from the drying rack. He carried over two waffles and kissed your forehead again as he placed it in your hands.

"Oh uh- Thank you." You made a spot for it on the table. 

He sat down across from you. He proudly watched you eat. The two of you talked a bit about your interests. He seemed a bit invested in what you actually do when you look at stuff online. You told him alot of it is strange or dark humor. He said he likes all forms of comedy so he wants to see some, you're going to have to find something wholesome for him to look at later... something not... potently fucked up. 

* * *

You left him alone for a while because you wanted to get the chemicals you need for your darkroom. When you got back you didn't smell the usual sea-salt when you open the door, instead you smell sugar filling the air and that strange scent that an oven gives off when it heats up. You place your bags on the floor and shut the door before you head into the kitchen. 

John jumps up when he sees you. He rushes over as he cheerfully greets you. John makes his way over to hold your hand only... his feet don't touch the ground. You've never seen him float before, you've seen him phase through walls and you've caught a glimpse of him fading away once, but never float. 

John dragged you by the hand to sit down at the table. You notice before you even sit down that he prepaired a plate for you. You see that, placed right in the middle of the table, there is a tall, large white cake. 

John grabbed the biggest kitchen knife he could to cut you a slice. You notice that the cake had four distinct layers chocolate buttercream in between each layer. You look back at John who is literally hovering next to you.

"I'm sorry that the frosting isn't... well smooth..." John tells you. "but I worked with what we have in the house."

You look back at the slice. The cake looks fine to you. "I didn't even know we had frosting in the house.." You basically are talking to yourself. "I didn't think I bought something like that..."

"I made it." John tells you.

"Really?" You never know what you have in the house. You take a bite out of the cake and tell John, "this is like... really good."

"Yeah but..." He looks over at the sink. You turn around to look at it, he used nearly every large bowl you had in the house, which to be fair isn't a lot. You turn back to look at him. He is biting the tip of his index fingers nail. You notice that he has your laptop charger in his other hand. He stops biting his nail to apologize. "...sorry... I can try to help you wash the dishes, but I wouldn't be... visible to you then."

"It's cool." You raise your hand. "I can do them." 

"No, really I can-"

"Nah," You tell him. "I'd rather chat with you while I do them."

John looks down at the table and shimmies his shoulders back and forth, he must like what you just said to him now that he's nearly dancing. He looks up at you to ask, "so you like it?" Just as he asked you he puts his gaze back on you. John just noticed that you stuffed your face with about half the slice he cut for you.

John covered his mouth as he giggles at you. He's always so sweet, with his actions and the way he acts. He's completely melting your heart. Part of you feels a bit guilty that you can eat what he makes because... it seems like he can't.

"You said that you used to bake?..." you ask John, "sooo... did your dad teach you?"

"Yeah!" He seems happy that you remembered. "He taught me how to make frosting and I think I can remember a few recipes, if you get show me something in a cookbook, and buy me the ingredients, I can probably make it for you." He claps his hands together once, then clasps them together.

"Cookbook?" You laugh through your nose. "John, most people now just use like google for stuff like that." You take another bite of the velvety soft cake he made for you. 

"You mean like... that thing on your... _laptop,_ was it?" John's voice gets a bit higher as he asks you to clarify. You nod as you take another bite. John continues, "I thought it was for like shopping and... uh... I'm sorry I don't know much about this stuff, I spent most of my time scaring away the people who move here. I didn't really watch anything on tv except for movies and cook shows. Are there shows just for laptops? I mean stuff that isn't on tv."

"There's a lot of different things." You have to think this through, can't just jump right into showing him the shit you find funny, don't want to give him an existential crisis. Instead you pull out your laptop and place it on John's side. You invite him to sit down but pulling out his seat for him. John kisses your cheek as he takes his seat and push him back in.

You type in cake recipe into YouTube. Instantly you found a channel that makes cakes. You showed him how to navigate the site and got out your wireless mouse so the thing would be easier for him to use. 

John scrolled through the channel as you ate another slice. You listened to him click through a couple of videos. He was a bit slow at typing but he picked up using it like a natural. John must have picked up on a few things when you showed him that booksite you order things from. You were afraid that he was going to struggle with your laptop, like some old man figuring out modern technology, but he's doing just fine. 

You can see John's head peeking over the laptop, his glasses reflecting the screen. He is still holding your laptop charger as he searches through the different videos. Eventually John asked you, "what else do they have online?"

"You can find pretty much anything."

"Anything?" He tilts his head as he asks you.

"Anything you have in mind?" You ask him.

"Uh..." John stammers a bit. "I'm just wondering if anything means _anything_."

"Yeah," you nod. "...anything."

His eyes widen as he jolts back, he narrows his eyes at the screen. "Really...? anything, anything."

"Have at it." You get up and walk over to him. You squat down besides him and place your hand on the mouse so you can open up a new tab. You click on the search bar and invite him to "search whatever it is you thought of."

John instantly rejects your offer, "no! no! I'll take your word for it." He seems a tab bit flustered. He must be thinking of something a bit dirty. You try to not show your amusement. Instead you show tell him, "you like flowers? We can look up pictures of gardens if you want?"

"S-sure!" John smiles at your offer. 


	24. Trance

You just finished reading a novel that Dave got you in the fully newly furnished study. You were floating around the house looking for just where your sweetheart went. You quickly glide up the stairs and fuse your head through the wall to the darkroom he set up. There he was, playing some odd slow music and gently waving around a small container filled with some clear liquid. 

He was processing negatives so you figure you shouldn't let any light in... Still you don't want to spook him. You move back and take form. You knock on the door and call out to him, "can I fuse through the door?" You reassure him, "I won't let any light in." 

"Sure." 

You phased into the wall. The entire room was a pinkish red, suited with lights that where appropriate for use in a darkroom... at least that's what you figure. You know nothing about photography. You shrug off the thought, you floated over to Dave and swooped up behind him. You didn't want him to see you take form, you aren't sure exactly how it looks and as far as you know it could be horrifying. You don't want to scare him... that would just be so embarrassing. He was holding plastic tongs and using it to flip an image. He turned around to look at you, with the tongs still in his hand. He was smiling when he saw you. You flashed him a grin. You were more than happy to see him again, it might have only been about an hour and a half since you last saw him but you figured he could use some company as he worked. 

You tilted your head as you watched him slowly rock the small plastic container back and forth. He was still looking at you. You looked around his darkroom. You saw a few pictures hanging down from smooth plastic clamps. You couldn't make out what they were but you could see that there were a lot of them. 

The slow beats, that were riding the air, faded away and changed to another song. Now all you could hear is some louder drum beats, a psychedelic guitar rift and the sloshing of Dave's chemicals. Dave smiles at you and then turns his head to look back down at his photo. He's messing around with it using his tongs but all you can focus on are the humming rose red lights, vibrant but still tinted... not unlike wine. It was covering Dave's entire body like a sheet. His hair, usually void of any color, was blanketed in a shade of blushing scarlet. His shirt was already red but it felt like it was radiating color, almost like a neon sign. He was literally shining. 

As you were watching him, you were also slowly drifting back and forth with the mind-bending music. swaying. floating. straying. You came in here to talk but your mind is completely blank. Dave looked back at you. Suddenly he started looking around. Oh. You guessed that you lost form for a moment. You suppose it's for the best. Maybe instead you can go downstairs and bake him something small as a thank you for all of the new novels he just bought for you. Of course though... maybe you could just make him something for him... just because you want too. 


	25. speachless

You just got back from shopping, you bought a few things that John asked you to get. You walk into the kitchen, carrying every single plastic bag that you have on your arms. You walk over to the counter and slide them all off.

Out of the blue, you feel a warm breeze in the room.

“John?” You look around with love in your voice.

Nope. It was just that someone left a window open. Can’t help but feel disappointed. He’s probably reading one of his books again. You heard a noise behind you, “boo!”

You turn around. John’s laughing while he looks up at you, he's starting to take to pulling little pranks on you. Leaving the window open so you don't notice the warmth of his presence is a new one. You immediately kiss him on the lips. He starts blushing a subtle pink reflecting off of his cheeks. He looks down at the ground as he shyly smiles and twiddles his fingers behind his back. He opens his mouth and lightly breaths out a question, “Would it be alright if we went on another movie date?”

* * *

You set everything up. You put the pillow behind his back and covered him in yet _another_ blanket you bought for him. You had to find a larger one so you both could really share it without taking too much from him. To you, even a small sliver of him being uncovered is an unforgivable sin. You also bought him slippers that you put on one-by-one by hand with a smile. You handed him the controller so he can pick out a movie for the two of you to watch.

“Can you do it?" John asks you. "You are so much faster then I am.” He hands you the controller. 

You gladly take it, “No problem, babe.”

He giggles and covers the bottom of his face with both of his hands, covering up his adorable smile. You felt your heart flutter and your hands sweat onto the controller. You’ve never called him babe before.

You started searching through the movies but none are registering in your mind. You just called him a nickname and he just giggled and smiled up at you, he’s so cute. You can't believe that you are dating him. It's so strange to you... that someone as sweet as him wants _you_. Really, truly together. Nicknames, movie dates, he makes you breakfast and cakes and you buy him gifts to make him comfortable and-

“Oh! That’s a title of a book you got me.” John points at the screen. 

“It is?” You act like you’ve been watching the screen and not him. He can’t tell your eyes are covered.

You hover over the one he tells you to look at so he can read the description. He gets excited that it’s the same thing he read and he loved the novel so he wanted to watch it with you. You quickly select it for him, just like he asked.

You wipe the controller down on your pants before you hand it back to him, “sorry.” Your attention was completely focused on the controller. “My palms were sweaty. That’s just what you do to me.” You look back up. You look at his blushing face and hand the ebony game controller over to him. His face is completely red. He’s looking at you with wide eyes as he slowly reaches down to grab the controller. He placed it in his hands and looked back at the screen. He hasn’t pressed play yet, you kept staring into the side of his eye. After a few moments of silence between you he told you, “you do the same to me, you know?” 

You kissed his cheek. John flushed up again as he placed his hand over the spot you pressed your lips too.

“If- if you don’t stop...” John warns you, “I don’t think I’ll be able to pull away from you.”

He finally turns his head to look at you. You don’t make any moves. You want nothing more than to kiss him fiercely and feel up his back underneath his shirt. The more deep and desperate part of your desires pulls thoughts of- all of a sudden he presses his lips against yours. He lays his arms on your shoulders and than moves up his hands to feel the back of your hair. He parts open your lips with his tongue. You slide yours inside of him and deeply, passionately kiss him like he’s kissing you. He pulls you down to the sofa and starts moaning into your mouth. You keep rolling your tongue against his and grab his waist with both hands. The bridge of your sunglasses clinking against his shades as they lightly fall from your face. You pull away for a moment to rip your shades off. John lightly gasps. He covers the bottom of his face again with his tense hands. You look down at him with a light confusion written across your face. 

“Ughhhh!” John sounds like he’s fed up with you.

You open your mouth to apologize for whatever you did that upset him but John cuts you off-

“Why do you have to be so irresistible all of the time!?”

You find yourself getting completely flushed, more so than last time... more so than ever in your life. Your face is completely red across the board. Even the entirety of your ears are pooling with heat. You open your mouth to speak. “eigh- eugh-hnug- spek- he- heel- he- mmmh- waa" you give up on trying.

“You must feel the same, Hu?” John understands you regardless.

You nod at him. Your face must be redder than a rose. 

You try to speak again but only let out a raspy, **_“waahh.”_** You sounded like you just quacked like a duck. 

He snorts. He begins to laugh. He reels back his head into the couch and starts cracking up. “ **Oh god!** You are so funny! _**Haha!** _Dave!” He starts laughing so hard that he’s tearing up. 

You kiss him on the cheek and he tries to kiss you back. He can't press his lips together because he just can't stop laughing. John is holding his sides. He's still holding onto the controller in one of his hands.

John just keeps howling with laughter, trying hard not to kick up his legs as he lays right underneath you. Even if he did kick you, it would be worth it to see him this happy. You can’t help yourself. You have to kiss his lips again. John forces his mouth closed long enough to kiss you back. You pull away and immediately John starts laughing into your face. You smile and laugh with him. You can’t even recall why he’s laughing at you. Oh... yeah... he left you speechless. 


	26. Never In My Life

That movie date with Dave was the best one yet and that was **before** you even watched the film together! He was so cute! The entire time! He made the funniest sound you’ve **ever** heard. Eventually stuttered out that he was happy that you were happy. He’s so sweet!

You have to do something really nice for him... but you already baked him another cake and you’ve been making him breakfast every morning as a thank you for how much he does around the house and all those books he got you and how- Oh no... oh nonononononono you can’t confess that to him. Not just yet. Oh he’ll probably think that you’re crazy or pathetic or needy or... **_eaasssy._**

You can’t tell him. Nope. No. Nononono!

You are putting your foot down with yourself. You’ve had to force yourself not to say it a million times. 

To make matters worse... you almost told him that you’re in love with him too! Oh he’d definitely think that your nuts if you told him that you were in love with him this early in your relationship!!! On top of that, when you were laying on the couch with him and, oh, if he would have asked to... to... oh you can’t even begin to let yourself think of that. You can’t even bring yourself to think of **that.**

Maybe you **could** confess to him what you've been fighting yourself on not saying... tell him that... seeing his eyes while looking at him smile is the brightest joy you've ever felt, even during your lifetime.


	27. those words you cant say

You didn’t expect John to say that when he walked into the kitchen. You didn’t expect that you would drop your mug and shatter it on the floor. The boiling hot coffee pooled under your feet and he instantly turned it into vapor. You can feel him lifting up all of the pieces and moving them somewhere else. You can’t bring your eyes to follow. He floated up at you and said something. Something. You can’t hear. He slapped your face a few times. You faintly hear his voice calling to you, _“Dave.”_ You can barely make out his voice, _"are you okay?"_ You blankly stare at nothing. _“Dave?”_ His voice is starting to become more clear. You blink a few times and than answer him, _ **“quah."**_ You started coughing. You did it again. You covered your mouth with your fist and than looked up at him again. All of the worry left his voice as he laughed out the words, “you are so funny, Dave!”

You’re glad your back is up against the counter or you would just fall to your knees. He is making you so weak. You want nothing more than to kiss his cheek again, then stroke his hair as you slowly start to kiss him deeply. You want to shove your tongue down his throat and hum into his mouth how desperately you need him than pull away to breathe out the words- no. You can’t even bring yourself to think it. You’ve been trying your best to pull that from your mind.

You’re not the kind of guy to ever feel- but... you do feel that way. You desperately want to admit to him, admit to yourself that you need him. You need in so deeply that your heart is burning like the soles of your feet in this moment. That his laugh is vibrating throughout your entire body and making your legs so weak it’s a struggle to stand. His eyes are filled with tears from how hard he’s laughing and you want nothing more than to kiss the tears out of his eyes. Even you have to admit that one is a bit weird but you need to tell him. You have to-

_“Quehu- weah- tuaghmmherg.”_

He keeps cracking up. You couldn’t even bring out the words. You can’t match how romantic he is with any syllables whatsoever. You could grab a pen and scribble down the words but that would be the shittiest confession you could ever fucking give him. No you need to plan this shit out and print out a photo of him from a google search than practice a confession in your drivers seat in the parking lot of Home Depot.

You’ve got to work on it. You have to make everything perfect. For him.


	28. You Speak Your Mind

You were floating around the house waiting for Dave to come back from his most recent shopping trip, you don't know why he goes shopping literally every other day when his fridge is already full... maybe it's something people from the big cities do or it's like a 21st century thing? You don't understand kids these days.

You kept floating around, wou were tired with sitting down and reading. You wanted to actually do something. Once Dave gets back you're letting him know you're bored. 

Just then, out of the blue, you hear the front door shut. You float downstairs and see Dave carrying in all of his bags, he hates taking trips back and forth. He's silly like that. You wait for him to get into the kitchen to take form.

You announce your presence, "Dave." You walk in to see Dave is already packing away his... _four...?_ boxes of cereal...?

He must have noticed that you found that strange, he shook one of the boxes at you, "they had a deal."

"Right." You didn't even notice that you tilted your head to the side. You readjust your head as you walk over to the table and offer to help him. 

"No." Dave stops you from helping him. "it's okay, babe. You do so much around the house as it is."

You narrow your eyes at the ceiling and fake a pout. You look back at Dave and tell him, "when you're done then, can we go for a walk together or something?"

"You want to go on _a_... walk?" Dave asks you like he didn't know that you could. You already told him that you've left the house before. He seems to think that you are bound to this home. You roll your eyes at him and watched him put away the rest of his stuff as he talks to you. "Do you need to take off your socks then?"

"Uh..." You guess that makes sense. You're still wearing your navy blue robe, along with your white socks and those slippers that Dave recently got you. "I can probably take them off myself." You admit.

"Oh. Cool." Dave sounds a bit embarrassed that he asked you.

"I'm not going to stop you if you want to though." You roll your eyes again as you sit down on your usual chair. You kick up a foot and tilt your head at him.

He moved to kneel down infront of you.

He lightly took off your slipper and smiled down at your foot.

He gets so happy when he does stuff like this for you.

 _'Weirdo.'_

He smiles as he pulls off one of your socks. 

You lightly move up your other leg. You didn't mean too but the gesture was a bit more... seductive than you hoped. When he looked up at you, you didn't change your expression. You just smiled at him, same as before. Still, something about the way his adams apple bobbed in his throat made you feel like he saw your gesture the same way.

Shit. You wanted to ask him to help you into some other outfit. If you say anything now he's just going to see it as you... **ugh**... _flirting_ with him.

Dave completely removed your socks. 

"Hey. I bought you some clothes recently uh..." Dave doesn't know how to ask you.

"Oh. Awesome." You tried to sound as casual as possible. 

Dave showed you up to his room. He had a few different items of clothes folded at the ready for you in his dresser. He took them out and put them down on the bed and asked you which ones you like. Some of them still had tags on them so he left to find a pair of scissors.

You lifted up a pair of jeans. They look to long for you. You’ll let dave know that. Oh! He got you shorts that go down to the knee. You think you like that. You’re probably just going to go commando... you don’t know if Dave knows your naked under this robe or not yet. You ignore all the shirts he got you. Half of them have some dumb logo on them and you like shirts that are baggy. You start digging through Dave’s things. You find a nice large white shirt. You bright it up-to your nose to smell it. You sway from side to side as you inhale the scent of your love. You hear chuckling coming from the doorway. You look at Dave, still pressing the shirt up-to your nose.

You tell him, “I want to wear this.” You hold it up for a moment to show him and then bring it back to your face. You don’t care if he judges you, he can think and do what he wants... well... just as long as he doesn’t peep.

You have him close his eyes. You disrobe and ask for Dave to help you into the shirt first. It feels slightly tingly, you can feel that the shirts been wore several times but instead of the feeling making your skin crawl, it makes you feel warm. You hug the shirt. You give Dave the pants you want to wear and have him kneel down on the floor for you to step into the pants holes. You slip a bit and trip over the first hole.

”Are you okay?!” Dave asks you.

You notice his eyes are slipping open.

”Don’t peak!” You slap the top of his head. “Oh! Sorry! That was on instinct!”

“It’s fine.” Dave reassures you. “I didn’t see anything...”

You smile at his words.

”...that I haven’t seen before.”

You scoff at him. Dave laughs.

You finish getting dressed and zipped up. The shirt still tingling you, like fresh cinnamon. You bring it up to your nose to smell it again. Dave laughs as he stands back up. His eyes are still closed. “You can open your eyes now.”

You drop the shirt as he opens his eyes.

Dave looks at you sweetly and then pulls you into a hug. 

“Hard to resist, hu?” He asks you as he holds your waist.

"Hey,” you push him away and lift a finger at him. “If _I_ gave _you_ a shirt, would you smell it?” You don’t smell to much like sea salt anymore so the answer **better be** yes.

Dave replies, "of course I would, that’s _why_ I know it’s hard to resist.”

You giggle and squeal at his words without shame. You start to float up again. You pull him back into a hug. Dave kisses the top of your head. He hold your head close to his chest and takes in a deep whiff of your hair. 

“Perv.” You joke.

Dave pulls you out of his hug and starts chuckling to himself.

"Oh.” Dave sounded like he just remembered something. He kneeled down to the floor.

"I completely forgot." Dave is digging underneath his bed for something. "Babe, I got you something." He pulls out a few old cassette tapes from the 80's. You sit down on the ground with him, still feeling your heart twist a bit from the fact he called you 'babe.'

Your eyes light up when you see the labels on the tapes.

Falco, Bon Jovi, and some Queen! You laugh when you see The B-52's and HA! He even got you a Devo tape!

"I haven’t heard this stuff in years!” You confess. You hardly were able to listen to the radio for a long time and Dave just found you a goldmine of 80’s music! You grin down at the tapes and look back up at him.

"I got you a tape player too," Dave tells you. "There's already one in it."

He presses the play button,

_"Whenever blue teardrops are falling. And my emotional stability is leaving me."_

You start giggling at the song.

Dave is solemnly smiling down at the tape player. 

_"There is something I can do."_

Dave looks back up at you after hearing your giggles. 

He asks you, "you know this song?" 

You bite down on your lips and nod. You start smiling and giggling again.

_"Honey, I know you'll be there to heal me, the love you give to me will free me."_

Dave looks back down at the tape player, smiling softly.

You cover your mouth as you try not to laugh. 

_"If you don't know the thing you're dealing."_

Dave's eyes are fixed on the tape player, you're are fixed on him.

_"Oh I can tell you, darling, that it's Sexual Healing."_

Dave's eyes instantly widen. 

You start cracking up. 

Dave pauses the tape and switches it out for another. You fall onto your back and hold onto your sides as you kick up one of your legs.

" _ **He-**_ hey." Dave sounds completely choked up. You think he's holding up a different tap. You don't know. You can hardly see through your tears.

You guess he is because Dave nervously asks you, "why don't we try this one?"

He must have put in a Falco tape because it starts right in the middle of Rock Me Amadeus.

"Why is it in German?!" He directs the question to the tape player. 

You just keep rolling on the floor. _'He is so funny! '_

When you calm down from your laughing-fit you sit up and kiss him. He looks you in the eyes and sighs through his nose. He seems like he’s calmed down. You start grinning and blow a raspberry. You start cracking up again.

* * *

You plant your foot down onto the shining shore.

The waves of the beach are blue, green, brown, aqua, turquoise. The sea foam is every single shade of white you could possibly think of. The water that is resting above the sand of the shore is a fierce, glowing blue, reflecting the sunlight. 

You take another step as you walk. The glowing water splashing with each step you take. Your arms both wrapped around one of Dave's. You sigh as you stroll with him down the shore line. Dave agreed to not wear glasses so you could see his cinnamon colored eyes. 

There are storm clouds rolling in. You can hear the distant claps of thunder. You look up at the sky. Deep gray sparking with white, violent electricity. 

The white sand is turning brown as it soaking in scattered drops of rain.

You start running down the shore line. You giggle. Dave is chasing after you. You start laughing. “Come and catch me!” You call out to him. 

Almost instantly, Dave catches up to you.

Dave grabs you and lifts you up by the waist, spinning you around on the beach.

You are laughing as he keeps twirling around in several circles, he's hoisting you up by your bottom now. When he stops spinning you around, you look down into his perfect rose-colored eyes then kiss him on the lips. When you pull away you laugh, scrunching the skin around your nose and giving him a jokingly mischievous smile. 

Dave on instinct tells you. “I love you, John.” 

Your eyes widen. You try to speak, you almost stutter but your mouth can’t form the syllables to even do that. You’re completely silent. There are tears forming in your eyes.

His eyes widen, “I love when you get so happy it- it just slipped out I- I was going to tell you- I had something planned too… this is… almost as romantic.”

“You- you're in love with me?" Your eyes are welling up with tears. You said those words like your try to convince yourself they are real.

”John.” Dave kisses your lips as gently as he possibly could. “You’re the love of my life.”

You start sobbing at his words.

You confess, “I’ve been falling for you since… since I saw you in the study when you first came here. I followed you around and then I waited for you to leave the bathroom and you looked right at me and it- it scared me so much because I loved the way you searched around for me and- and than you laughed when you heard the place was haunted… and I liked your laugh… and I wanted you to leave but I… I was so mad at myself that I wanted you to stay.”

Dave was stuttering. Hardly any syllables he's saying make sense. Like he's choking on air.

You continue babbling, “Dave, I- I couldn’t even resist kissing you and I tried so hard to scare you away, but I never wanted to hurt you or destroy anything you’d miss and... and I didn’t want you to leave! It made me so frustrated with myself...” You’re crying. “I’m so sorry I was horrible to you… I have no excuse. I-“

He grabs your cheek as he holds you in one hand. He kisses you deeply and breaths the words, “it’s okay” onto your lips.

“But I caught you... in the shower.... and then I- I got so flustered it made me so angry with myself. Then when we were in the bath I accidentally looked at your- _**Ugh!**_ I’ve been so bad to you!”

“John you’re a ghost, you were doing what... _ghosts do_... and tried to scare me away so you could Rest In Peace.”

“I don’t want to rest in peace! **I want to live!"** You confess, "With You!”

“And you know what, John?" Dave asks you.

“What?" You ask him, wiping a tear out from under your glasses.

"You are."


	29. all for you

After you confessed your love to John you've been trying to outdo yourself, seems that you've earned John's heart so now you have to work hard to keep it. You bought John several gifts, enough pillows to make a literal fort and enough blankets to make a mattress. He already told you that he has enough so you took to refurbishing the study. You are almost finished, the shelves are still to empty for your liking. You've already made an order for more novels. When he's done with those you'll have to add another shelf. 

You've been walking with him on the beach everyday and every night you watch a movie with him on the couch. One night you fell asleep in his arms, you woke up shortly after, John squeezed you out of fear. John was enamored with the horror movie he put on for you two. It's funny to you that a movie of a poltergeist made a real poltergeist jump.

Today when you got up in the morning, you found John in the kitchen making you something on the stove. You noticed that there’s a stain on his shirt so you asked him if he’d like help undressing after breakfast. 

”ohh... you should think of a better line.” John replied to you.

“I- Uh” You were stammering. “I was- just- I didn’t mean to- I was- umm...”

“Ha! I’m only kidding, Dave!” John shrugged. “ Maybe later.”

John's being doing more than just cook for you. In fact he's been doing a lot of things around the house. John uses his abilities to clean the gutter for you and he dust where you and those realtors couldn't reach. He's always working on making the whole place spotless, when you asked him about it he said that he loves cleaning. That it took his mind off of things back when he was alone. You hear humming sometimes in the foyer and sometimes you see a feather duster dancing around on its own. You always thank him when you notice John cleaning, even though he tells you that he does things around the house for himself more than anything else. Still he cooks for you and bakes you cakes. It’s hard for you to believe that that is all just for him when he’s so eager to see if you like his latest dish. He’s an amazing cook too. John told you he can’t taste what he makes so he doesn’t know if he over seasons it or not. John brought himself to tell you that he is worried that sometimes the dishes he makes are maybe a little too spicy. You confessed to him that you love everything spicy. You even showed him you bought a box of red hots and you only ever get cinnamon gum. John said that he can make you curry that will make steam come out of your ears. He seemed to really enjoy telling you that little joke of his because he started chuckling as he was telling it.

You sigh.

A breathy, love-felt sigh. 

Right at the moment, you've been setting things up in your darkroom. You're testing a few things out. The entire time your mind has been on thoughts of John. Good thing you have a timer on. You would have completely forgotten to take this picture out of the container if you didn’t. You shut the timer off of your phone and lock your screen. You stare down at your phone and look at your wallpaper. It’s a picture of John. He’s smiling and laughing in it. Apparently it was the last known photo of John. You don’t know how John would take to seeing a photo of himself alive so you try your best not to take out your phone around him.

You pocket your phone again and sigh out your nose.

Just then, you hear a knocking at the door, "come in, just don't open the door."

He must have floated in, he just landed right behind you again. You turn around and smile at him you lean in to kiss his lips. When you pull away he asks you, "can I help you with anything?"

"I'm fine... hey you've been doing a lot lately," you turn the question on to him, "is there anything you want?"

"Well... I have been thinking about something..." John puts a finger up to his chin and lightly taps it. He looks up at the ceiling with a sly look in his eyes.

"What is it?" You smile as you ask him. If he looks so happy it has to be something good.

"I'll wait till your done." He puts up two hands, gesturing for you to calm down as he smiles a large cat like grin at you.

"Okay." You give him a light grin in return.

"Bye! Sweetheart!" He fades through the wall. 

Whenever John talks like that it means he wants to try something romantic. You can already feel your heart float up in your chest. You feel light as air, like you might float yourself.

* * *

After you finished up you looked around the hall for him.

"John?" You call out to him, curious to know where he is or could be.

it takes him a few moments to respond with, "in your bedroom!" 

You open your bedroom door and find him laying down on your bed. 

John's smiling at you in a more mischievous way than usual. You lower your brows as you watch him.

John takes off the shirt he’s wearing. He lays on his back and slowly pulls of his pants. Wait... was he completely naked underneath that robe.. and that-that sweater the whole time?! No boxers? no... _nothing?_

You do nothing but stand in place and stare at him. He’s giggling and laying on his stomach. He sits up and puts a hand up to his chin.

"You’re clothed and I'm undressed." John bites his bottom lip, and eyes you.

John's voice is so... so... sultry as he says, "now, we're even."

He must be referring to when he floated up into your tub. Still... this is something completely different here...

You can barely get out his name, “John?” 

John stops biting down on his bottom lip, he gives you a gentle smile, “yes... my love?”

“ha- uhh- you...” you start stammering again, “you-you- _ye-_ you...”

“shh shh shh...” John lifts up both of his arms and gestures for you to, “come here.”

You walk up to his side. You’re about to sit down but John lightly pushed you back with his palm. He wanted you to stay standing up. 

“Ohh, look at that!” John was eyeing your growing erection under your pants. “-and that’s just from seeing me? Hehhehheh!” He giggled.

_'He... He just giggled.'_

“I umm...” you feel your face turning blood red.

You could feel John move his palm down from your abs and down to your... You bite down on your lips and take a deep breath in. John giggles as he palms your semi. He starts tracing the outline of your bulge with one of his fingers. John puts his hands down and sits up straight as he looks up at you.

“Now!" He points at you, making sure that you are getting this. "You have to promise me that you’ll do whatever I want and **nothing** that I don’t!”

“I’ll do whatever you want, John.” You're more than willing to do anything for him. 

He sternly nods his head with a serious look on his face, “good.” 

Just then, he smiles. He can’t control it, he’s giggling again. 

John parts open your lips and pulls you into the bed. He’s kissing you lightly as he slowly wraps his arms around your neck. You pull away from his kisses to ask him a question.

“Do you want me to use a condom?” You’d have to go out and buy one.

"That’s really kind of you to ask!” John gives you a big grin, still wrapped around your shoulders, he shakes his head as he happily tells you. _“No!”_

You lift up a thumb to point at your bathroom. “I have lube under my sink.”

John tilts his head and asks, “what’s lube?"

You lift up your brows. "...I’ll go grab it.”

"What? Dave!? take me right now!”

"I don’t want to hurt you.” You let him know.

It’s not even that far from the bed. Still John just whined like he needs your cock right this second. God, he is eating up all of your self control right now.

 _"mmmm."_ John whined again, _"you’re making me so hot right now."_

"I know- wow I can feel.” 

He’s burning hot, just like your pounding heart.

"I don’t care if it hurts- make me yours." John's burning up against your chest.

"Okay. Wait-" Just as you say that John drags you down into another passionate kiss.

John pulls back his head and starts laughing, a deep rolling laugh, _“Uh-hahahaha. take me, Dave.”_

“Hold on-"

John is wrapping his entire body around you and pulling you into a deeper kiss. He’s much stronger than he looks. You sit up, with John still wrapped around you. You pull your lips away from his kiss.

“Welp.” You pick him up off of the bed and hold onto his bottom. John laughs as you pull him close to you. You carry him with you to the bathroom. John starts giggling at your little compromise, he's laughing so much he can't even bring himself to kiss you.

You kneel down to the floor with him as you open the cabinet you shimmy a little bit so it won’t hit his knee. He leans in close to see what you’re grabbing. You hand it to him to hold. You tell John, “watch your head,” as you go to close the door.

John holds onto your upper arms and leans backwards into the door, he phases his entire head through it. John sings as he sits up, “things can only touch me if I _waaant.”_ When he gets all the way back up he kisses you on the lips. You pick him back up and kick open the bathroom door as you drop him on your bed. You take off your top and then start to fumble to unbuckle your belt, you can feel how much you're shaking. John watches you and happily claps his hand against the bottle as you slide your belt out of the hoops of your jeans. You unbutton the top button and he leans in to unzip you. John gleefully drops the bottle. John sinks his hooked fingers underneath your pants and boxers and quickly rips it down. Your erection bounces up and surprises John, pressing his glasses up slightly.

You’re roughly seven and a half inches in length and much thicker around the middle. 

"Wow!" John seems taken back by your size.

He pressed his fingers up to his lips as he gasps in a light breath of air.

He looks into your eyes as he tells you, “even your hair down here is white!”

Oh. He’s taken with your... _hair._

“You look really big?" John looks down at your length. He looks up at you again. "Do you think this is going to hurt?” The way he looked up at you as he asked **_that_** made your dick twitch and you’re already throbbing. _Shit._ You’re already leaking.

You let John know, “we’ll take it as slow as you need.” 

He seems really happy with that.

You’re just happy you can even get out the words.

“Okay!” He wraps his hand around your shaft and than puts his mouth on your head. He slowly forces in-

“Hey… hey.” You stop him.

He pulls his head off of you, he looks up at you, “huh?”

“I thought you wanted me to fuck you?”

“I do! But I wanted to try sucking you for a bit.”

“That’s fine- just don’t push yourself to far for me.”

John starts chuckling as he bites down on his lip again. “I don’t care if I choke. I'm gonna take it all.” He seems intimidating with the way he’s eyeing your dick. He smiles up at you, “best part is, I’m a ghost so I don’t need to breathe.”

John starts sliding your head against his tongue and into his mouth. When you hit the back of his throat he gags. John keeps forcing you slowly into his mouth. He doesn’t seem like he’s able to take all of you in. John starts working your shaft with one of his hands. He keeps up a slow, gentle pace as he sucks you. John is forcing himself to take your cock and you can’t say you aren’t turned on by that, but he seems like he might need more practice before he can push himself further. John’s trying to pick up the pace. He grabs onto your shaft with both hands and takes in about half of it. You can feel your tip hit the back of John's throat, John pulls away. He’s rethinking deepthroating you- All of a sudden he grabs onto your hips and then forces his whole mouth down on your cock. The tip of his nose brushes against your pubes. He pulls away and does it again. You can see his eyes are filled with tears but he’s still trying to focus on taking you all in. You step back and he looks up at you as your cock escapes his lips.

You can offer him something you'll both love.

You look down at him, “I want a turn.”

John's eyebrows slowly raise as you get down on your knees. You place your hands on his knees as you kiss his tip and adjust yourself on the floor.

John sounded like he winced.

You lick his tip a few times, then you slowly trace your tongue around his head.

John just let out a slight moan. 

You slowly take in John's whole cock as you massage his thighs. You pull your head up and down as you work his shaft. You slide your tongue back and forth as you bob your head. 

You start to pick up the pace.

_**“Uhh-mhgh- Dave!”** _

John's load fills your throat, when you pull away you notice that it tastes even saltier than usual, actually it tastes a lot like sea salt. His cum is transparent and white but it’s tinted to look a little bit sea-blue, You lick his tip again. He gasps at the feeling. You drop his cock from the grasp of your hand.

John confesses, “that was the first time anyone’s ever done something like that to me…”

you looked up at him as he speaks, “I _-Dave-_ I finished to early, didn’t I?”

“It’s okay." You smile at him, "don’t worry about-"

Suddenly his erection bounces up and hits your chin.

“Ah- there!” He still sounds breathless but also proud. John just gave himself another erection.

“How- how can you just do that?” You ask him, your voice stammers from your surprise.

“I don’t know-" John shrugs and lifts up his hands. "I just think about things and half the time they happen.”

Now you _really_ don’t want to piss him off.

John throws himself, belly down, onto your pillows to grab your iPhone charger from your nightstand. “Can I borrow this?”

“Sure.” 

John rolls over on your bed. He's now laying on his back. He seems amused with how long your charger is because he just wrapped some of the cord around his fist as he chuckled at it.

You maneuver yourself on the bed and crawl over your lover. 

You look down at him. John's breath shakes when he feels you're naked body on top of his. John moves his wireless hand up to your chest and feels your abs. He's besides himself with amusement. John is biting down on his lips and giggling. 

John tries to whisper to himself, _"ah-haha, i'm in heaven."_

You flip your hair a bit and ask as casually as you can, “can I finger you?”

“Okay- _if that’s what you want.”_ John pretends to roll his eyes and then giggles again.

You sit up and begin work stacking up three pillows. You have your love rest his back on top of it. John is laying down in the middle of the bed now. You're making sure that he's completely comfortable. You kissed him on the lips again. You meant for it to be a quick peck but John just pulled you down for more. You let him kiss you for as long as he wanted. After all, this here is all for him. 

John slipped his tongue out of your mouth. He's still holding onto your back as you reach to grab the lube. Once you have it in your hands you begin to work the clear fluid onto your fingers. You start by gently pressing one finger against his entrance. 

You look up at John's face. He's covering his mouth and looking down at you with half-lit eyes. You ask him again, just to be sure, "yo-" He cuts you off.

"Dave." John removes his hand, revealing his large open mouth grin, _"fuck me."_

You look back down, you slowly stick one finger inside of him.

You give him a moment to adjust to the feeling. You look up at his face, John bites down on his lip again, this time he takes in his entire bottom lip under his teeth instead of just pinching his rose red lips. You start lightly pulling out of him and slowly pushing back in. John starts lightly moaning, panting out breathy moans. You crawl over him again. You start kissing his chest. You keep gently fingering his hole. John lets out a groan. 

After a few moments John asks you, _"stick another in."_

You follow his orders and stick in another.

John grabs one of the pillows behind him and bunched up the fabric in one of his fist, the other still holding the charger. You start sucking onto one of his nipples lightly grazing your teeth against it, making sure to pleasure him as gently as you can.

 _**"Hmmm."**_ John sounds like he more than enjoys the feeling.

John bites his lips down at the feeling of the second finger inside of him.

_“Ah- wow… Dave... you- you’re… so good.”_

You slowly pull your two fingers in-and-out of his tight hole.

 _“Add"_ -he moans- _"-ah- another!”_

You follow his request.

Instantly he cums. 

You pull off of his chest and move back down to kiss his thighs. Slowly pulling your fingers out of him.

“Ah…" John keeps panting. He takes a few breaths, "hold on…” Suddenly, he gives himself another erection. John smiles down at you, with love in his eyes, as he tries to recollect himself, “go ahead.”

You slowly pull in-and-out of him again with all three fingers. He's so tight. You start kissing his chest, he might need to relax a bit. You tell John to "just breathe."

 _"hmmm..."_ John moans so lightly it's like a whisper, _"make me take it..."_

A promise is a promise, and you agreed that you would do whatever he wanted.

You pick up the pace a little bit and lean over him to watch his face.

John struggles to keep his eyes open. He whispers, _"fa-faster."_

You start pumping into him with a bit more force so you can keep up a steady, and quick, pace of pumping in and out of him. 

_"Faster!"_ John demands for you to fuck him faster.

You start thrusting your three fingers in and out of him. He's lifting up his hips and pushing his back into the bed. 

**_"mmmhhh!"_ **John sounds like he can hardly take it. **_"fu-fuck!"_**

John is moaning out of his wide open mouth.

His eyes are shut close but you want him to look at you. "John."

He can hardly open his eyes, still he tries. His overbite is still sweetly biting down and holding his bottom lip, you lean in and kiss him. He starts kissing you back as your roughly you pull in-and-out of him. He gasps into your mouth as you pick up the pace a bit more.

"Ahh! Da- _dave..."_ he moans into your mouth, _"it feels so good...."_

You kiss his neck and lightly suck on it. He tenses up at your kisses. 

You keep fingering him.

 _"wa-wait..."_ John sighs out. _"I- I"_

You pull out of him.

John just came a third time.

He giggles when you meet his gaze.

"wow." John is smiling up at you with half-lit eyes. 

You glance down and he gave himself yet another pulsing erection.

His stomach is already drenched in his own white- slightly tinted blue seed.

You don't even know how many times he's came already and John's cock is already starting to leak again. 

John sighs out your name as lightly as he could, _“dave."_

You look back up at him.

_"I need to feel you inside of me.”_

“John," you swallow down some spit. "I might be a bit… big for you.”

“Here’s hoping.” John bites down on his lip again.

_'Shit.'_

You align yourself his hole. His holding his thighs and spreading his legs apart.

You slowly push yourself inside of him.

 **“Hm!”** Only your head is in so far but already John is gasping at the feeling.

You push a bit more of yourself in. John starts humming, _"hmmmm! **fuck."**_

You push in a few more inches as slowly as you possibly could.

John loudly moans, _“It’s so much!”_

You stop and open your mouth to speak but John just presses a finger up to your lips to stop you from speaking. 

“I didn’t say stop.” John giggles.

You just remind yourself that you have to be gentle with John, you already get he's not experienced but he's completely irresistible to you. You are going to have to concentrate on all of your willpower to make it through this. Even if John starts moaning for you to fuck him hard and fast you can't just do that, not while he's this inexperienced. You'd rather die yourself then hurt him.

When you finish completely sticking yourself inside of him. He instantly starts shaking. He just came. He breaths out the words, _"mo-more."_

You take in deep breaths to calm yourself as you slowly pump in and out of him. Just as you thought John starts moaning for more. He wants a hard and fast fuck. You slightly pick up the pace. Only slightly cranking up the volume from 1 to 2 and not to 11 like John is begging you for. 

_"How do I feel?"_ John is wrapping his arms around your neck. _"Good?”_

You shiver out the words, _"fu-uck. John, y-you’re so tight.”_

 _”I’ll be whatever you want me to be, just take me.”_ John's legs are completely wrapped around your hips. He's trying to force you into him harder. He breaths out, _"Faster."_

You pick up the pace a tiny bit. Enough that John can tell there's a difference.

"Dave." John grabs onto your shoulders he pulls you up. 

You look down at him, you don't know if you did anything wrong but you're already working out a million apologies in your head. You start to pull out of him but John suddenly tightens his hips around you.

John gives you a stern look, "just slowly pick up the pace! If I don't like it, I'll say slower. **Listen to me when I say fuck me faster!"**

You slowly pull out of him and back into him. With each thrust you start picking up the pace. Steadily getting faster and faster until John starts yelling, **"YES!"**

John sounds like he's trying to hold on. He is grabbing onto your back. 

**_“Oh fuck oh fuck oh god! Da-ah- DAVE!"_ **

John came again. You start panting, like you're trying to catch your breath.

" **Don't fucking stop."** John growls at you. **_"Fuck me as hard as you fucking need!"_**

You start fucking him again. You need to pound into him, aggressively, like you're going to completely demolish his hole. You hold yourself a bit back, you turn up the notch a bit up from what you did before but somehow John gets you're holding yourself back.

 **"Da- _AH_ -Dave!"** John grunts through his teeth, **"fuck me like I'm yours!"**

You start driving into him harder. 

John starts moaning, **_"faster!"_**

You obey his wishes and start giving it to him faster.

 _"AH-Go-o-od!"_ John is rolling his moans as you hammer your cock into his hole.

"Da _-ah-_ **DAVE!** " John sinking his nails into the back of your neck, he keeps moaning and panting. His mouth is wide open.

He just came again.

You keep driving into him to avoid his scorn. 

John keeps moaning, you feel his load up against your stomach along with his aching hard cock. You'll make him cum as much as he fucking wants. You fucking need him to cum more. You keep forcing yourself into him. 

You slightly slow down to talk to him. _“It feel good?”_

**_"Y-"_ **

You suddenly slam into him only one time, but it's as hard as you can.

_" **FUCK!** **YES!”**_

You grunt and pound into his hole again once, the same exact way you just did.

Your flesh slams against his.

 _"God!"_ John pulls on his own hair as he groans. **"I loved that! Growl again!”**

You start fucking him raw again, as you do, you grunt for him again on request.

 ** _"It’s so hot."_** John sounds like he's filled with lust. **_"God, everything about you is so fucking hot!”_**

You admit as you groan, "fuck- I feel- the same about you.”

John moans, "goooood. Say something sexy.”

"I- you’re- youre- so fucking tight.” You tell him again.

John lets out a hot breath against your neck, "say something really vulgar. Like nasty!!”

You groan, **"take my cock.”** You start fucking him harder and slower.

 **"Hmmm!"** John sounds like he's really taking it, with each thrust he hums. **"Hmm! Hmm!"**

"You want me to destroy your hole?” You ask him.

 **"Shit!"** John begs you, **"fuck me _wrong!_ Dave!”**

"Wrong?" You lifted up his thighs to slap his ass.

John nearly screams, **"YES!"** He lets out a shaky breath, **"just like that!”**

 **"You like it!?”** You slap his ass again. 

**"Yes!"** John moans.

You keep spanking John with one hand as you drive into him. Sweat is dripping off of your forehead and running down your cheeks. You might be drenched but you aren't fucking stopping till John says it's over.

John cums again at the feeling of your hand smacking his ass. You have to hold yourself back from cumming right there and then. John clearly wants more. He's already hard again and begging you. "say something really bad! Like really dirty!”

You thrust slower into him to say, "you like my fucking cock?”

"Yes! Now say something sexy!” John demands.

You aren't sure you can get out any words with how much you are panting. John's lucky he doesn't need to breathe. You swallow down some spit to soothe your dry throat. 

"I love-" -you pant- "how you can-ah- fit in my." You take a deep breath again, "whole cock.”

John confessed by groaning out, **"you’re so fucking good to me.”**

"Fuck.” You kiss his lips again and part away before he can drag you in. He's going to suffocate you if he catches you in another kiss and you won't be able to bring yourself to stop him. 

"Tell me you love me!” John demands for you to say the words.

"I fucking need you." You pant a few desperate breaths, "John, I love you.”

 ** _"That’s it. Harder!"_** John is so fucking close, **"I’m- _ah-ah-ah-ha!”_**

John sounds like he's right on the edge so you thrust into him with everything you’ve got. He starts convulsing, like he's having a fit. You aren't sure if he just came, still you finish your load inside of him. You pump your load into him with three distinct and rough thrusts. When you’re done riding your orgasm, you start pumping John’s cock. Looks like he really did just cum because he's flaccid but at the feeling of your hand on his length he made himself hard again. You pumped him as fast as you could, your fingers still lightly glazed with lubricant. After several desperate pumps of your fist and at the sound of you trying to catch your breath, John cums right on your chest.

You laid down on your back. Your aftermath smeared on your chest along with all of John's loads. You don't think, **you already know** ,that was the best you ever had. You feel like kissing John but you don't think you can bring yourself to move. You struggle to really catch your breath after that orgasm. John made you cum so hard that your head is spinning. You feel John's hand suddenly touch your chest. He's pressing himself against your side. You instantly pull him into a hug, you might have been a little rougher than you would have liked. John seems pleased with your offer though. He's resting his head on your shoulder. 

John lets out a gentle sigh.

By the time you caught your breath you decided that you could use a long bath, you invite John in with you, promising that you'd dry him off after. You sit up off of the bed. John is about to sit up too but you stop him. You point up your finger and tell him to stay laying down like he is.

You come back to him with a damp washcloth. You clean him up before you even bother cleaning yourself, perhaps that was a mistake because you dripped some 'stuff' onto the carpet. You don't care. You can figure out a way to clean it later, John needs to know that he always comes first.

John giggled as you cleaned him up. He sat up and took the cloth. He wiped you down with it, he promised you that he'd do a better job wiping you down with his hand in the tub. 

* * *

You've been resting in the tub for a while with John. He's been laying up against your chest, humming to you and stroking your chest. His glasses aren't fogged up at all, when he drags his hands up from the bathwater they aren't damp at all. Everything about him is still so otherworldly, so ethereal, so perfect. You kiss his nose. He giggles at the action.

John decides to entertain you with something small. He lightly moved his index finger back and forth like a pirate ship ride in an amusement park. The water started rocking back and forth with his gesture, slapping up against your chest. 

John giggled, suddenly the water in the tub turned into a tye-dye effect of rainbow colors. Blues kissing up against oranges, pinks, yellows, teals. John started forming the water into a flower with four petals. And you thought you were the artist. Suddenly the water turns a deep waxy red. John forms the flower into a heart. He drops the water and lets it fall into the tub, as the water settles back it turns clear again.

John must have used up his energy on entertaining you. He smiles up at you, it's a sad smile like he has to leave you. Before he does he tells you, "I did the flower first because I thought making the tub blood red would be a little weird."

"Oh. Good call." You nod. You kiss him on the top of the head, you pulled away to tell him, "glad you did, I've never seen anything like it."

"You really liked it?!" John looked up at you with stars in his eyes. 

"I loved it." You let him know. 

John giggled. He quickly grabbed onto your hands and made you cover your eyes with your own palms. When you took them off he was gone.

You sigh.

You weren't ready to say goodbye.

You need to get out of the tub anyway. 

You want to order more books for John.


	30. Painting the Wind

Dave is out again. You already told Dave that you love cleaning because it helps ease your mind. It soothes you. You told Dave already that trying out new recipes is one of your favorite things to do to entertain yourself and thanked Dave for giving you the chance to make whatever you wanted. Now you have to actually think of something to do for Dave to actually show your love for him that he knows all of that. You can't exactly leave and buy him a gift.

You decided that you would go through the forest while Dave is out to see if you can find anything unique, anything that you couldn't find by going to a market place. Something personal, natural. Something just like your love.

You scan the wood. You see nothing but large trees and green ferns. You floated through the bark of the trees and drifted over a small rushing river. There's nothing you can bring back to him here. Maybe you should have looked for shells on the beach, but lately there's been nothing but white sand. You let out a whispy sigh, much like the ghost you are. You keep looking, if you find nothing you're going to have to change your tactics. Then you notice a large bush with white flowers. The white flowers have five petals, they are shaped like stars, you think that they are... They are! These are red thimble-berries. You pick a few. You know where some blackberries grow around here too! Dave would love wild berries, if he's from the city he might not have ever even tried them!

You used to scan the woods and look through books on wildlife that the last owners had, of course they tossed all the books when they noticed the water damage from your hands, you know what's poison and what isn't already. You pass a bush of red berries you know to be toxic. You float over to where you know the blackberries are. They are already black! They are perfect for eating, you bet that they'll be sweet. You collect the berries in your transparent hands. It's easy carrying objects this small and this light. You don't have to manifest at all. You gasp. You suddenly notice there's a beautiful patch of bright blue flowers, they are bachelor buttons. Dave is going to love how vibrant the colors are, you bet that he's never seen a flower as radiant in hue as this! He probably loves bright colors like this, that's exactly why you showed him you can make water change into beautiful colors a while back. 

You take all of the stuff back with you to your home. You have to open the backdoor to get all of the things inside. UGH! Of course it's locked, you have like almost no neighbors and Dave still keeps the place under 'total lockdown' when he's out. You place the berries on the ground and then float through the glass door to unlock it from the inside once you manifest. You grab the berries with your new temporary body and walkover to the sink.

As you watch off the berries under the water you take a moment to admire the outfit Dave bought for you. He got you some regular pants, nothing to special still, you haven't worn jeans in decades. Dave also bought you a black wristwatch! You absolutely adore it. It's your style, Dave just guessed that you'd like it. He doesn't know anything about your personal style but he knows you so well he could just figure it out. You sigh. You pull up your shirt up to your nose and take another whiff. Shit. It's starting to lose that fresh Dave scent. You can still feel a slight tingle. You feel a twinge tickling your skin, just like Dave's soul rubbed off on it a little bit and you love feeling Dave rub off on you. ' _Hehehe.'_

Dave knows your game already, you only want to wear shirts that are his so you can feel Dave every moment even when you are alone. You love having time to yourself, sometimes you can be a bit of a loner, just like Dave, but you both love sitting down next to each other and read as Dave looks at pictures on his phone. You like being alone together. Doing your own thing and just not talking. You feel so lucky to have someone so close to you and so close to your heart.

You get a plate for the berries. You place them down on the table.

You feel sometimes like he's your best friend. He's been showing you videos online, you think they are more silly and cute then comedy. Dave told you that you can watch comedy specials online too if you liked them. You love comedy! You got maybe a bit to excited at him telling you about it. But you haven't seen anything like that in years. On top of that, Dave seemed to think your outburst of energy was _cute._

Yeah... most of the time it feels like you and Dave are perfect lovers more so then close friends or 'roomates.' 

You grab a small cup from the cupboard. You fill it with water from your own hands and place the blue flowers inside. You put it down on the small kitchen table, right next to the berries. OH! You smack your forehead. You don't know why you didn't think of this once you found the berries. Dave would love to see these on-top of a chocolate cake with white frosting. It would look so beautiful! You'll get to work on that after you finish making a couple of recipes you wanted to try, Dave can tell you if oxtail soup actually does taste as good as everyone online says. You're very thankful that Dave lets you try out new things, he goes out and buys everything personally. He even let you clean out his fridge. If you are going to cook for the house, Dave **better** get used to having a clean fridge! You notice he doesn't eat leftovers, unless it's cake of course, you try your best not to make to big of portions but when you do you try to experiment and see if you can make the leftovers into something else. It's almost like a puzzle, seeing what's the best way to reuse old food and make it into something new, something Dave would love. 

* * *

The fans above the stove are blasting out noise as they work at top speed. 

You finished cooking the soup and baking the cake. Now, you're decorating the chocolate three-layered cake now with white frosting. You scrape it around with a metal 

You've been sparing your energy and dropped having a body on-and-off constantly as you cooked. For right now though, you are wearing your body. It is easier to really grip the cake's plate if you take form. You are humming to yourself as you make the cake as smooth as you can. 

"Hey, babe." 

You jump. You didn't even hear Dave come in. 

"Dave!" You turn to look at him. 

You grab the plate of berries, you turn it upside down and drop them on top of the cake. You grab the plate and hold it up the cake to show Dave. You float over and show him your gift, "surprise!"

Dave is wearing his shades today but you can just tell he is eyeing your cake.

"I went out today and picked wild berries." You crinkled up the skin around your nose as you smiled and chuckled. "Don't worry. They aren't poison."

"I trust you." Dave told you.

You let out a small squeak at his words. Dave's really earned your heart, each time he says something like that it reminds you why.

* * *

The next day you were floating around the house, looking around for your lover. He wasn't in by his car isn't outside, plus he usually announces when he's leaving. You look outside in the back. Oh! There he is. He took out his wooden isle and started painting the beach.

You float in and take a closer look, at his face. Dave isn't wearing his shade's nor does he see you. You turn to look at his canvas, Dave is painting the ocean but it's really abstract. It's got really strange colors and bizarre globs of shapes, but you love it!

You hover over him without manifesting. Dave doesn't like you watching him paint until he's near finished. He gets a bit insecure about his art because he actually cares about impressing you.

You watch him mix paint onto and isle. Dave is so silly, he uses his sleeve to wipe the paint out of his brushes. No wonder why half of his clothes are covered in paint. He's a slob. Dave starts humming a little song as he cleans his brush. You giggle.

Dave turns towards you. He heard you. 

You gasp.

You float to the other side and take form. You tell him, "sorry I was watching you."

Dave turns his head and smiles at you. "Don't worry about it. I'm almost done."

"Really?" You tilt your head and hum. "Hmm. Well. I do love all the colors."

"You do?" Dave asks you. He turns back to his canvas and starts painting again. "Good, cause its about you."

"Really!?" You perk up. You want to kiss him but he looks like he's still in his 'zone' you don't want to disturb him.

"It's about how I feel about you." Dave dips his brush into more of the deep vibrant blue.

The blue paint looks so close to the bachelor button that you placed on the table. You notice that he actually has one sticking in the pocket of his button-up.

You struggle, fighting the urge to rush up and kiss him all over.

Dave takes a breath and confesses, "I've never had anything like a muse before." 

You can't help it. Once Dave's brush is off the canvas you wrap your hands around his waist and kiss him on the lips. You peck him several times. Dave almost loses his footing when you jump him but instead he keeps his balance. He wants to hug you but his sleeves are a wet mess. He refuses to get you dirty. You pull away from him, still hovering in the air. You pick at the flower in his shirt. You hold it up in between the two of you. 

You acknowledge, "this is probably the most romantic gesture I think you've ever done for me... that and how you confessed you love me." 

Dave smiles down at the flower and then back up at you. 

"No one's ever brought me flowers before." Dave confesses.

"Same to you." You nod. "You're the only man whose ever shown that you care for me."

Dave closes his lips, the side of his mouth pulls a little bit. He takes a breath and speaks again, "did you have like... a dad?"

"Oh." You have to correct yourself, "I meant romantically care for me."

You look off to the side. You notice that there are several canvases facing the house next to the steps. You see the sides are painted with bright, loud colors. You float down and pick them up.

"Wait." Dave sounds a bit nervous about you looking.

This must be the scrap pile.

You hold up the entire stack and tilt your head as you look at a light blue canvas. He didn't paint anything more then a big blotch of blue on the white canvas. The shade of blue looks familiar to you. He said you're his muse... but it isn't like the flower, not like your eyes... _'huh?'_

"That.... is that supposed to be my..." You make a face at the canvas and then direct it at him. A face like your disgusted and disappointed.

"Yep." Dave sighs as he nods.

"Bleuch." You open up your mouth, your skin pulling on every inch of your face.

"Yeah..." Dave sounds like he's admitting that it's a bit strange, more so than admitting that it's completely gross. "Not sure if that ones good for a gallery... but I thought i'd paint it anyway."

"It's gross **_because_** you are going to show this in like a gallery." You use the canvases to point at him.

"Okay... Well... what if it's just for me then?" Dave asks.

"Then I love it." You nod.

"Cool."

"Jesus." You sigh as you shake your head slowly a few times. "Do all artists think about sex all the time? Painting the color of my... stuff... onto a canvas. You're really something else, Dave."

"Andy Warhol painted with cum actually." Dave tells you the weirdest trivia fact you think you've ever fucking heard.

"What?" You look at him. "What the fuck?"

"He did. Can fuckin google that shit." Dave tells you that like it's means something to you.

"I'll take your word for it." You open your mouth and stick out your tongue at the same time, that sounds disguising to you. Gross! You bet people would pay a fortune for that too!

Dave starts chuckling at the look on your face. You close your mouth and scrunch up your nose. Dave keeps lightly laughing until he kisses your lips again. He slowly parts away from your lips. You sigh. Openly letting him know that he leaves you breathless.

"Actually..." Dave points down at the canvases in your hands. "All of the rest of those aren't suitable for the galleries either, babe."

Each of them is a damn near perfect recreation of the flower you made in the tub for him. Hell, some of them actually are a painting of the water coming out of an illustrated tub.

Dave shakes his head when he sees your smile.

"It's nowhere near right." Dave sounds like he's disappointed with himself. "I can't recreate how perfect your flower was."

"Well I love these." You hold them close to your heart.

"I'm probably going to chuck 'em." Dave shrugs.

"What?" You ask him like he said he's about to hurt you.

"You know? toss em?" He makes the gesture of tossing them away.

You give him a death glare as you slowly set down the canvas that still belongs to Dave. You hunch down and gently place it where you found it, as you maintain eye contact with Dave. You still hold onto all three of the reject canvases. They are yours now. He's going to have to pray them from your cold dead hands. Well... more like... warm dead hands. Still! These pictures are yours and they are going in the study and that's that.

Once you set down the canvas, you slowly bend back up and you rush out with the rejects to the study. Not ever bothering to run, you take the initiative to float as fast as you can over to the study, in the back of your mind you remind yourself you can't phase through walls right now with these precious gifts in your hands. You float into the room and place two of the paintings next to your piano. You start looking around the room for a spot to hang the one in your hands up before Dave can take them back. If you pick a spot he **won't** be able to say no to you or even try!

Dave came after you. He's standing in the doorway. 

You narrow your eyes at him. He wanted to toss out a painting he made with you in mind. You're not going to ever let him... no matter how... unsavory it may be. It's special because it's made with love. Not only that, they are all so well painted. Each has a beautiful array of color, just like your books!

You smile at the painting when you hold it up against one of your many bookshelves. You look back at Dave with the smile still plastered on your face. 

"Dave!" You tell him. "These are perfect for my study!"

"Don't you mean our study, babe?" He asks you.

You shake your head and pout, "noo, _mmmy_ study." You hold out the syllables so he gets the picture. "You said this room is mine. I don't do anything to your bedroom now do I?"

"Well... You almost broke my bed last night." Dave kisses your cheek.

You remember how you hopped onto of his lap and rode him till you had your fill. You giggled at the thought, placing a hand up to your lips. Just then, Dave tries to take away the two paintings you left on the floor.

"HEY!" You bark at him. "My room! My rules!"

"Babe-"

"You were going to toss these?!" You float up to him and point a finger in his face. "When I told you that I love them!?"

"I can do better-"

"Then do better and keep those." You tell him. You take the paintings back from his hands. "These are mine." You stick a tongue out at him. 

"Okay. Okay." Dave puts his hands down. He smiles and chuckles a bit. "But there is a price."

You narrow your eyes at him. Whatever the catch is you already don't like that he told you that you have to pay a price in your own fucking study. You let him know that with your eyes alone.

Dave comes up to you, he's making his hands into claws. Oh no. You know what he's going to do! You let out a scream and then laugh. Dave starts tickling your sides before you have the time to float away. You start howling with laughter at the feeling. 

"There it is." Dave sounds content and even still he keeps tickling you.

You struggle to speak. He won't even let you. He's already kissing you.

"I love that laugh!" He tells you.

Dave lets you go. You float up and then lean forward to give Dave a peck on the lips.

"I love you!" You let him know. 


	31. online

You're sitting in your kitchen after another movie date with John, you were on a jog on the beach for a while and now you're settling back down with a bottle of apple juice and a few nice hard memes. You open up your browser and you were just about to type into the browser's search bar but a few results pop up. Results you were sure you didn't type. That's more than fine, you told him he's allowed to use it.

You read from the bottom up, the latest to the most recent, in order of how he searched them.

* * *

**how to pleasure a man with your mouth**

**best ways to practice giving a blow job**

* * *

_'Shit. Is that why he wrote cucumbers on the grocery list?’_

You went back to scanning the list for the next thing he searched.

* * *

what do men like to hear in bed

sex terms

do men like rimjobs

how to make men cum hard

gay sex

how to dominate a cock

how to get guy to dominate you

how to act like a cockslut

do men like if you kiss them with cum in your mouth

* * *

Without even thinking you use the hotkeys to see your history. You scroll down to see his history from pornhub, once again reading form the order of which he searched

Looks like at first he searched the browser was ‘gay sex' pornhub.

* * *

Search: white hair 

Blond twink fucks another Twink

blonde guy fucks a hot teen

Dominant top Pounds twink

straight football player fucks my ass and surprises me by kissing me.

 **Search:** kissing during sex

Pounds my ass so hard he kisses me to make up for it

Destroys guy so hard soothes him with kisses afterwards

Punished hole with cock, kisses boy better again

Passionate kissing, hard pounding

 **Search:** hard fuck romantic

Fucks boyfriend all night after date! Six loads already in him!

Filling Him Up With Cock Throbbing Contractions

 **Search:** cum hard kiss

 **Search:** cum hard while kissing

 **Search:** cum handholding

Cute teen loves pleasing his daddy, holds his hand cause he’s scared

Cute 18 yo boy is verbally abused while getting railed hard by fat cock

 **Search** : romantic

 **Search** : sweet talk

My Sweet boyfriend takes two of my loads

Cute boy moans when he’s fucked gently

 **Search** : cute for boyfriend

My cute boyfriend is naughty again

 **Search** : kiss than slapped

 **Search** : kiss slapped right after

 **Search** : cute boyfriend naughty again

My cute boyfriend is naughty again

* * *

_‘mental note: watch video later.’_

* * *

**Search** : gentle than hard

gentle kisses, hard pounding

he said he would be gentle the whole time! I made him Fuck Me Hard!

Used up my baby boy then cuddled him after

Rides daddy like a good cockslut

 **Search:** randomly slams cock

didn’t let him know i'd fuck him hard, instantly cums!!

 **Search** : hardest fastest

Completely Destroys his hole! Gaping After Creampie!

Daddy drives me into the bed, almost breaks it!!!

daddy fucks me hard and bare 

teaches his Bitch how to take his massive cock

Makes him scream! Loud Orgasm! 

**Search** : hard scream cum

Verbal top makes cute teen cum hard

 **Search** : teen fuck hard

Cute Teen takes Very Hard, Very Rough Pounding

Teen fucked fast and hard

18 year old cutie tries not to cum early, fails

 **Search** : blonde fucks 18

Hot teen punished with cock by a blonde muscle twink

* * *

His Google search terms starts next...

* * *

how to dominate a cock?

* * *

You think the internet might have destroyed your boyfriend’s mind.

You were afraid something like this would happen…

And with those search terms…

he must have been…

_'shiiit...'_

Shit. You shouldn’t have read any of that, he didn’t know that you could. You should apologize… apologize the right way. Right away actually. You didn’t mean to sound so panicked when you yelled,

**“John!”**


	32. Thoughts of You

**“John!”**

Your boyfriend sounds really worried, or maybe angry. Did you do something wrong? You quickly phased through the ceiling and float down to the floor of the main room. You use up a lot of energy taking form, you’re stressed thinking something is wrong, makes you use up more energy when you’re worried. You hurry in.

“Dave, is everything okay?!”

Dave swoops you up. Grabbing you by your bottom and kissing you deeply. You moan into his mouth and grab onto his hair. You wrap your legs around his waist and wait a minute- you rip away from him “Hey!” You grab onto his shoulders with both hands and than lift one to point at him, “I’m not at your beck and call! I won’t just drop what I’m doing and fuck you because you want me! I’m-"

He kisses you gently on the lips, “you're worth more than that.”

You hum at him angrily. _'He better remember that!'_

**“Hmmm!”**

You're working hard to keep your mouth into a straight line.

“I have to romance you first?”

“Yes!”

“Whatever you want baby.”

You’re trying to keep it together and not just literally melt in his arms, that would be so embarrassing for you! And… probably traumatic for him.

He kisses you gently on the lips again. You swoon and sigh. Wait no! Stand your ground.

“I was reading a book and I came down here because I thought you were hurt!” Well that wasn’t your first thought but one of them, still! “You don’t get to call me just because you're horny! You should come to me!”

“I called you because I can’t see you, babe.”

“Oh.” You turn your finger into an awkward claw, than point it out again. “Still, you made it sound urgent.”

“I know, I just got excited at the idea of giving you want you wanted.”

“Ohhh ho ho! Are you going to say your cock?! Sound like you want me to want that!”

“How about I kiss you the whole time we have sex, on your lips, on your neck, on your back? All while I give you a nice hard pounding?” His breathing is heavy. He sounds completely taken by thoughts of fucking you. You get flushed at the thought.

“Uh- I- umm… how did? How did you know I want that?”

I should have told you I could read your search history.

"You- YOU CAN?!" You yelled. You cleared your throat as you coughed into your hand, "What!-" You tried to calm yourself, "what did you read?"

"Hmm…" Dave chuckled

"Are you a naughty slut for me? If you promise to be a good ghost and accept my apology I’ll fuck you exactly like how you want."

You blush, your mouth is gaped open.

"I can fuck you as hard as you can take and make you cum as many times as you want. I’ll give you my phone charger so you hold on easier, my cocks going to destroy your body. You might lose form.”

Your rock hard at that. He knows. He can feel.

“And afterwards we can cuddle, but first I clean you up and kiss all the places that I grabbed you too hard.”

_'All the places he grabs me too hard!?'_

“aaaahhhHHHH! Dave!” You kiss him _aaaallll_ over. “Call me anytime you want! Just- just keep doing this to me!” You grab his cheeks, your wrists meeting together right under his handsome chin. You kiss him.

"I love you, John. You're so cute when you're happy like this."

You squeal and clap your hands several times. “You make it feel so good too! It doesn’t hurt at all when you do it! I tried to do it on my own when I watched those videos when you were out and it didn’t feel good at all..." You nervously trail off.

“Did you still cum though?” Dave kisses your neck.

“Pervert!” You push his head off of your neck. “You’re so gross! Asking me if I came while you were out! Yes." you instantly reply and nod. “I did.”

“Did you picture me fucking you like in those videos you watched?” Dave presses you.

“Ugh! You are having to much fun with this!” You pretend to sound annoyed.

“Did you want my hand around your cock instead?” Dave asks.

He bounces you up in one hand to make sure he’s got a firm grip on you, than he moves his hand in between both of your chests. He curls a fist around your erection that’s poking from under his button up shirt your wearing. “Just like this?”

 _“Hmmm.”_ It doesn’t feel as good as it normally does when he touches you.

Dave still keeps pulling on you as he walked with you upstairs. He leans your body onto his so he doesn’t drop you. You bite your lip. He’s so focused on you right now it’s making you even more hot.

He gently lays you down on his bed and kisses your neck as he keeps pulling you. He starts trying to push you forward so he can reach something from the nightstand on the other side, he can't reach it so he's going to have to leave you. _'Ha. No.'_ You focus on the bottle and imagine pulling it into your hand and instantly it’s in your grasp. You hand it to him. He wants it, he gets it. Dave stopped working you, making you pout. He pours it into his hand and than starts doing it again and oh- ohhhh… that’s what makes it feel so nice. You want to make Dave feel nice too. You picture Dave’s pants getting suddenly unbuckled and quickly ripped down. Than it just happens. He looks shocked. You giggle. He gives you a grin, like he’s impressed with how dirty you are- _oh..._ oh that's ** _exactly_** the feeling you've been struggling to feel again.

“Are you going to fuck me hard?”

“Whatever you want.”

“I want you to ram your cock inside my ass and fucking destroy me, make me your cockslut! Use up my hole! Take me in every way and make me scream when I cum!”

He looks at you with more surprise than anything else.

“Did- did I over do it?” You press your two index fingers together.

“You can say whatever you want, baby.” Dave smiles down at you.

“What do you like? You’re doing what I want like me say what you like!” You cheerfully tell him.

“Uh well…” Dave trails off.

“What do you like!?” You happily ask him. 

“I loved how you acted the first time we had sex.” Dave tells you.

“You- you did? I had no idea what I was doing?!”

“It was- you were… you just acted so cute and-" you interrupt Dave from saying more.

“I’m your cute little ghost? You wanna teach me all about how to take your big cock, your cock that’s soooo big it made me cum instantly when you stuck it in me! **I can’t even take it!** I-“ he slammed his tongue into your mouth. You hummed into him and he worked you faster. He must want you to cum. You’re already so close with how fiercely his kissing you and how he’s leaning over you. You wrap your legs around him and start buckling your hips like you need to cum- you need to cum! He pulls away from your kiss. He must want to hear your mo- ** _“Ahhh! Hmmm! That’s it- that’s it!”_**

“Did you moan like this when you did it yourself?”

_“mmmmhh- **I didn’t!"** _

“I'm teaching you so much. You don’t need the internet to teach you how to take a cock, just ask me…"

You instantly cum into his hand. He licks the tip of his finger than wipes the rest on the towel he usually keeps on the floor for himself. He always gets _you_ a fresh towel because you're special.

"That was... that was way better than using your laptop..." You sigh.

Dave's kissing your neck again. "You don't need it."

"But... I get lonely when your out." You're gasping as he lightly grazes your neck with his teeth. You don't want him to bite you. He pulls his lips away.

"If your lonely while I’m out… maybe I’ll take a few pictures for you?”

You shutter.

“You seem like you like that idea.”

He leans over you again and places his lips on your neck again. 

He lightly grazes your skin with the tips of his teeth.

You're about to tell him no but than he lightly pulls at your skin.

It doesn't hurt at all. 

It feels like a gentle little love bite.

You let him nip you as long as he wants.

You should have known that he'd be gentle, he always is.

He huffs out of his nose as he bites a little bit harder down on you, you giggle.

He starts doing it rougher and more passionately. 

Oh... maybe he needed a little bit of time to get excited again.

 _You_ don't need any time at all.

* * *

"Baby?" 

Once you heard Dave call for you, you were floating down to him as fast as possible. 

You dropped down behind him and giggled as your feet hit the floor.

He smiles as he handed you a small square gift. It was wrapped in a brown paper and a string of twine. You opened it immediately and gasped in awe. 

It was a large stack of Polaroids of Dave! The top one has a message, for when your lonely 

The first photo is one is him, completely naked posing by his window and stroking his massive-

You bite down on your lip and start flipping through. There's one of him laying on his bed, he must have put it on a timer because one of his hands is behind his head as he's working himself. You try to look at the next photo.

"Hey- hey." Dave stops you by putting his hand on yours. "Don’t look at all of them, save them as a surprise for when I’m out and you're horny.”

“You just mean when you're out?” You look up at him and bite your lip, “I’m always horny.”

Instantly you see his cock starting to rise in his sweatpants.

"I think I owe you a gift after all the _haaard_ _work_ you did for _me_."

Dave grabs you by the waist and pulls you into a kiss.

All of your Polaroids fall out of your hands and slide across the kitchen floor. 

Dave drops to his knees immediately and starts sucking you off.

_"mmmhHH!"_

It feels so good when he touches you!


	33. a great gift

You just got back from buying John more things. He wrote you a pretty detailed list and even asked for you to buy him a 10 foot charger for every room. John sounded so caring and thankful for everything that you were giving him... still... you were hoping that just for once he would act a bit demanding. You aren't going to tell him that's what you're looking for just yet. If you straight up tell him that you love when he pretends to give you a hard time he's just going to start giggling when he does it... not that you don't love that but... John fake-yelling at you to go on a jog or get out of the house for a bit makes you excited. You don't want him to start getting giggle fits over every anything, just most things. 

You sigh. Even as you unpack apple juice you got for yourself and place it in the fridge you're minds still on thoughts of John. You lift up the now empty plastic bags and a small Polaroid is stuck to the back off one of them. 

You pull it off and look down at it.

It’s a photo of John holding up his shirt to reveal his erection. He’s holding the camera way from him and looking down on the camera. There is a message written on the white bottom of the photograph,

i might have played around with your camera!

xoxo xoxo

Well know you know why he was naked earlier when you left. Its a great gift, only thing is most of the image is just a white, blurred outline of him since he's a ghost. You can only tell what he’s doing because… he flashes you so often like that...

Every chance he gets he winks and lifts up his shirt at you or sits in your lap or twirls your hair and waits for you to notice that he's bottomless. Whenever he giggles to much you know that he wants to show off his body to you and there's almost never a time now when he's not giggling. 

John floated in the room, "Dave!" He must have been outside because he just missed you coming in. “Did you see my gift!?”

“I did, baby.” You hold up the photo.

“I can make more!” John brings both of his fists to his chest, "I know that it's just a white blur but you can see my erection, right!?"

"I could, babe." You nod as you tell him. "It was really good."

"You want to see a trick I learned?" John smiled as he asks you.

He nods his head once like he's egging you on to say 'yes.'

He's so excited, he's just so cute. It's killing you. Tugging at you from the inside out. He's doing this on purpose!

Still you have to seem cool, seem casual.

"Sure thing, baby." You put the photo back down on the table.

"Come on!" John grabs onto your hand instantly after you let go of the image. "Come on!"

You're guessing it's a bedroom kind of thing. Now you're really excited.

You don't move. You stand in place. 

John scoffs at you for not listening to him.

You gesture, "can you show me here?"

* * *

You stare back down at his bright pink cock and than back up at him.

For some reason he just wanted to flash you again. He's making you watch him as he pants.

John made you take off your shirt because he loves seeing your abs. You suck in your gut the best you can and sit up straight to show off your body just like John is showing off his. 

John starts panting. John's struggling to keep his eyes open.

You look down at his cock, it suddenly starts twitching.

He's leaking.

He shutters out, _"ah-hmmm mmmhh."_

He instantly cums. He shoots his load onto your bare chest.

He keeps holding up his shirt.

His eyes are half-lit and his mouth is panting as he smiles at you.

"Did... did you like it?" John asks.

Your mouth opens to answer but only air escapes your lips.

You look down at his cock again. 

He just came without using his hands...

and he is still completely hard.

"I learned another trick too..." John says the words with so much passion, his lust surges right through your cock.

"I think it might take a few tries until I can get soft again..." John sounds so sweet.

"My... hhhmmm- ahh... my cock is aching... please." John looks up at you with wet eyes. "please help me finish."

Instantly you are rock, fucking hard and leaking. John giggles when he notices that your tip is peaking out of the top of your sweatpants, right past the waistband.

"You got so hard for me so fast, just like I get hard for you..."

He tilts his head down to smile down at your cock. John brings his eyes up to gaze up at you without moving his head. "I think you're erection is more special though... it's difficult to get bodies to act the way that you want them to, right...? I can cum as many times and I like and still beg for more... but... I think maybe next time I cum... you have to work to get me this hard again." John's smirking at you.

He's starting to act like he's got full control over you and your cock.

Like he's the one running the scene.

Like he's overseeing every single step in your dance and he's completely fucking right and you fucking love it.

You want him to giggle like a bouncy, ditsy slut all while glaring down at you as he rides your cock. You want to buy him all these little gifts and have him get so excited that he kisses you all over until he accidentally gets hard again. You want him to hop up and down in your lap as you respond to e-mails, antsy for you to pound into him again and demanding your attention. You want him to randomly take form and show off his hard, throbbing cock to you while you're on the phone setting up another show. You want him to ask for twenty new novels when he still hasn't finished the new ones you ordered him. You want him to make you breakfast in nothing but an apron and use it as a way to ask you to buy him something he wants. You want John to slam his cock down your throat and fuck your mouth while he begs you to take his entire load. Right now. You drop down to your knees and force his entire cock into your mouth, just like always.

John tenses up at the feeling and grabs the back of your head. You linger there and tease the bottom of his shaft with your tongue. John waits on your to do more. Nope. You want him to face fuck you. You want him to completely take control. John keeps waiting on you to make a move. You just keep teasing him with your tongue. 

"Dave -ah- move..." 

You slowly drag your mouth off of his cock and suck on it as your lips pull off of him with a 'Plooup'. You look up at him with dangerous eyes, "fuck my face as hard as you can, John."

You grab his cock again and hold the base as you drive it into your mouth.

John looks down at you with a bit of fear in his eyes, like he's scared to make a move that could hurt you. Of course he isn't going to, you want to choke on his cock just like how he wants to choke on yours. 

You just keep teasing John, humming and moaning waiting for him to make a move.

Suddenly he starts gently sicking his cock in-and-out of your throat. You hum like you like that. John picks up the pace a bit. John decides to give you what you asked for but first he tells you. "If you want me to stop, pinch me."

Yeah. You aren't going to do that. Pinch him or want him to stop.

You don't let him know that, he'll feel better if you have an out, even if you don't need or want it. You just want him to fucking use your mouth like it's his own personal fleshlight.

_"Ahh!"_

John keeps buckling his hips down your throat just like you're begging him for. You start pulling on yourself.

_"You're so- so good."_

You want him to cum. You fucking need it.

_"I- I can't stop!"_

Instantly your load is on the kitchen floor.

_"Da- ahhh- DAVE!"_

John shoots his load down your throat.

"You... did you like that, Dave?" John asks you.

You slowly pull off of his cock. You have to catch your breath for a moment before you answer. **"I fucked loooved it."** You groan, your voice is a bit hoarse but you're sure he can hear how fucking pleased you are with that thrashing he just gave your throat.

"I'm... I'm glad..." John says the words like he is a bit worried.

"Babe, I loved that. Think we can do that again some other night?"

"Re-really?" John sounded happy, like you just eased his mind. "You liked it that much? Why?" 

"I don't have a way with words like you John but... It's like... it makes me feel like you're completely taking over my body."

"You want me to take control over your body?" John sounds like he's asking himself.

"Yeah, baby." You smile up at him.

"Oh... Okay..." John looks away, he sounds a bit nervous. Like he already has an idea to ruin you **and you fucking love it.**


	34. A Tab Bit Desperate

Ever since the two of you started, you just can't stop!

At the drop of a pen, you jump into Dave's arms.

Fiercely kissing him after every complement.

Stripping at every favor.

Panting in lust at every gift he gives you...

You would say that you should get a grip but he's exactly the same, and you have no problem behaving this way for someone who feels the same...

the exact same.

Dave got a bit tired from all of the 'fun' you two have been having so you sat down with him to watch a comedy special on the couch. He glided his hand over your back and rubbed your waist. You try your best to not get excited at his touch, to just keep it in. He's only feeling you because he can't keep his hands off of you!

You lose a bit of yourself and start panting again.

Dave notices, you must be red hot... _again._ You look up and apologize,

"sorry..." you sigh, you should be completely honest with him. "I just get so excited when you touch me!"

Dave's breath shakes as he slowly opens his mouth. 

You didn't want to start him up again! You just wanted a normal date, for his sake.

You think he's starting to get exhausted with how much you've been making him pound into you.

You glance down at Dave's... 

_'_ _ah'_

He's already rock hard.

Dave moves in closer to you and starts kissing your neck.

You lightly push him away from you, he instantly pulls away.

That only serves to make you want him closer again.

Still you fight the urge.

This is for Dave! Not for you!

You take in a deep breath through your nose as you lift your head and breathed it out.

You scoot back and encourage Dave to put his legs up on the couch. You want him laying down flat. He follows your lead but still seems a tab bit concerned. You already know that he won't let you do anything any more with out lubricant and he still thinks that he's to big for your mouth, really fellating his own ego on that one, but you aren't going to do anything of the sort... if Dave gives you the permission to that it. 

You are sitting in between Dave's legs, happily looking over him.

You say in a hush tone, "is it alright..." 

You lean over him as Dave rests with his back on the couch, "if I try something different?"

"Try what..." Dave meets your hushed tone with his own, "exactly?"

You sit up, straighten your back and gleefully ask,

"I'm going to see if I can pleasure you with out using my hands."

You lift up your hands and flutter your fingers, wiggling them around slightly, like the twinkle of stars.

Dave looks up to you, with his beautiful cinnamon eyes,

"you can do whatever you want to me." 

You picture Dave's sweatpants getting pulled down. It happens.

You imagine Dave's shirt getting pulled off. It happens.

You can't think of a way to describe your powers, it's like if you think about your arm moving and wanting it to happen, it will just happen. 

You look down on Dave's naked body bellow you as you sit in between his thighs. 

You lift up one hand and hover it over his lower body with an open palm.

You picture the lust you feel, you picture making Dave feel it as much as you do.

You feel a slight tingle surge though your body, a slight pulse of electricity, so you look at your hand. You keep your focus on the back of your hand for a slight glance, then you look down at Dave's cock and see that he is already leaking.

His body is red, his muscles are shaking, he's panting and trying to catch his breath.

You tilt your head, you never tried to make someone _feel_ something before.

You smile up at him, like you are proud of yourself. 

"I can't believe that worked!"

You outstretched your hands and cracked both your knuckles.

"Okay!" You shook both of your hands, like you are gearing up to run a marathon.

You hold the same hand over Dave's cock and started gently picturing pleasuring him, nothing to intense just-

_"MHHhh!"_

You drag your glance over Dave's abs and up to his eyes, his face is dripping with sweat and he is moaning. You slightly move your hand again, picturing making him feel as good as _you_ always do when he touches you.

_"AH!"_

Your surprise slowly turns from a look of concern to a look of pure joy!

You are beaming him a strong and bright open mouth grin.

"Don't!" -Dave gasps for air- _"Don't stop!"_

"It feels that good?!" You ask him.

_**"Yes!"** _

Whatever you are doing to Dave he seems desperate for more.

You hover a completely flat palm over Dave.

You pull your wrist back and forth, you wave your hand up and down.

You bite down on your lip as you focus on pulling his cock up and down.

 **“FUCK!”** Dave practically screams.

“Are You Okay!?” You stop out of fear and concern.

 _“Go-ah-d!"_ Dave bucks up his hips. _"Don’t fucking stop!”_

He liked it!

You try your best to mimic the action you took and _feeling_ you had again.

 **“SHIT!”** He grunted through his teeth.

You smiled brightly, you did it again. Only this time with more force!

**“JOHN!”**

“You want more?!” You pull him a few lighter times.

Dave stutters our **“EGH- _UGH_ \- YES!”**

You start working your wrist faster, then find a steady pace. Dave instantly falls down into the couch cushions and struggles to pick himself back up with his elbows. He’s completely struggling to even stay up under your grasp and you aren’t even touching him.

You giggle with your free hand covering your mouth. You lean down to view the show better. You start using your other hand to work him, without touching him. Suddenly he yells out a drying cry- ** _“FUUCK!”_** You think it sounds like you just hurt him, you’d think that... that would be if his cock didn’t just erupt his entire load onto your face just now. You narrow your eyes as it drips from your hair and your nose. It’s sliding off your chin and the bottom of your glasses. Dave struggles to get back up, he struggles to open his eyes. You know it’s a probably a struggle from him to see you and still he glances at you with those strained eyes, _“fuck.”_

You narrow your gaze at him, you slightly pout.

You’re sure he can’t make out your look right now with how hazy his sight must be.

He's shivering.

Some of his cum just dripped from your hair onto Dave's chest.

Your tighten your lids so much as you narrow your eyes you nearly close them.

You try your best to ignore the white thick load dripping off your forehead and sliding down your glasses.

Dave keeps trying to collect himself. He can hardly speak. He's stuttering out,

“I- I -I ca- can-can’t re-member" He took a break to start panting again. He stops trying to look at you and lets himself rest his head on the cushion behind him, "a time I came so" -he swallowed down some spit- "hard.”

“Funny… me neither.” You slowly blink.

You keep trying to ignore all of... stuff... dripping from your face.

“Fuck. John. You’re-"

Dave keeps trying to return his breathing to normal, he's still shivering, he's still red hot, he still feels the way about you that you do about him.

"-that was the best I’ve ever felt in my entire life, next to…" Dave has to stop again to catch his breath, "… next to you confessing you loved me. Fucking two highlights of my life."

“I… I liked when you gave me that rose." You confess.

There were a lot of things you enjoyed about being with him. You'd hate to admit that you are this shallow, but you're first time with him in bed was one of the highlights of your life so you can't bring yourself to be annoyed at him comment.

"I love you so much, John." Dave mutters out. His forearm is completely covering his eyes. He looks like he's more than spent, he looks like he's on the verge of death. He needs a bath... and you need a towel... for your face.

You sigh and tell him that you're making him a bath, he needs one he's drenched in sweat and you aren't having any of that hug you right now. No matter how sweet he is, he isn't pulling you back in!

* * *

You already dropped your physical form, and entered the bathroom.

Thankfully when you lost your physical form... _everything..._ on you evaporated.

You set up a bath for him, letting in hot water and a lovely scented bath-bomb. 

Once the tub was ready you floated right back to Dave.

Of course.

Of course he is asleep. 

Naked and snoring on the couch.

You grab onto the controller and drain it of it's energy slightly.

You gather enough energy to gain a physical form again and place it back down on the table.

At the sound of the loud 'clunk' Dave shoots up. He gets up off the couch and looks around, searching the room for you. You distract his gaze by looking over at the door and picturing it closing. Dave stares at it and you float behind him. You quickly manifest a form and cover his eyes.

"Boo!" You spook him.

Dave starts laughing. You lean forward and kiss the side of his head.

"Come on!" You tell him to get up, "let's go to the tub."

* * *

Once you get in the tub, Dave is way too excited to tell you how good you are,

"It was fucking amazing."

"Okay, you don't have to curse so much." You point at him.

You are sitting in between his legs, he is wrapping his arms around your waist again. 

He's still all over you, you can't help but be smitten. 

You giggle when he starts kissing your neck again, again, again.

"But I need to curse, babe." Dave makes up an excuse, "it's like you were fuckin' my entire dick. Don't have nice words to say that."

You were right about to chew him out for cursing again, reall... hu?"

You ask him to reiterate, _"wait what?"_

"Felt like my cock was just stroking itself on it's own but... like the entire thing- inside and out. I- holy shit..." Dave is really struggling to explain this here.

You do it to yourself. It feels no different.

You keep staring down at the bathwater as you place your hand over Dave's eyes.

"Keep your eyes closed."

You trust him to listen. You let yourself lose form and see if it will feel better like that… No it doesn't feel any different from... _'ohh…'_

You take form again.

“Uhhhh Daaaave…”

“Is… is something wrong, John?”

You turn to look at him, his eyes are still closed.

"You can open your eyes..." 

He listens and opens his beautiful piercing red eyes.

You tell him, “I wasn’t pleasing your cock…” 

“Wait..." Dave sounds completely dumbfounded. "What?” 

You breathe a slight huff out of your nose,

“I was pulling on your soul.”

Dave stares at you. Like he is still shocked, but he nods like he understands.

His parts his lips open and asks, “is- is that how you feel when I touch you?”

You take a moment to think.

You lower your chin and look down, _‘actually…’_ you softly move it back up.

“Yes.”

“God. No wonder you are so intense about getting a hand job." Dave places his hands on your arms and rubs them both, "I’m glad I’ve been so fucking good to you, make your cock feel as good as you make my heart feel.”

You giggle at that, okay you aren't angry about Dave cursing anymore if he's going to talk about sex... but he's got to work on his language still! 

Dave sighs and leans back against the tub, "Shit... you are... John... I'm so fucking lucky that you love me..."

You smile at him and lightly let out a gentle laugh.

Dave starts up again,

"I... I can't believe a guy like you... even likes _me._ I feel so fuckin' blessed."

"I could say the same thing." You tilt your head down towards your shoulder and shrug, "just with less curse words."

"John, you don't get it..." Dave runs a finger through his hair, "you are like completely perfect... and I'm just some guy who curses all the time and wears sweatpants like they're boxers."

"I like that you do that! I can see your cock all the time!!!" You cover your mouth for using a word that you only like to use in bed. _"Eep!"_

"You are so, so, so, so perfect." Dave sighs.

"Now. "You let go of your face as you ask him to explain, "what makes you say that?"

"You're handsome. You're cute. You have the best looking cock I've ever seen. You have the cutest laugh and the best smile. Don't. Get me started on your smile. It's like every time you grin up at me it makes me instantly light up... even after all these dates I catch you making smiles that I've never since you make before and every time it stops my heart. and when you're annoyed at me your nose scrunches up and your brows frame your eyes, you always look so... so fucking good. Shit... You don't even need to say anything sexual, you just lay in my arms and my mind's like completely melted butter. Everything you say is so beautiful, I can't tell if it's the way you speak or your voice but it's just like... like... John... JOHN!"

"Hu?" You perk up.

Dave just yelled at you for some reason.

"Holy shit! Are you!?" Dave grabs onto one of your legs and pulls it out of the water. He's examining it with great concern in his eyes.

Dave breathes a sigh of release, "oh thank god."

He slid his hand down and let down your leg into the water.

"What happened? What did I miss?!" You search around the room like you are searching for the answer. You stare back at Dave once speaks up, 

"You were melting!"

"Oh!" You slap yourself in the face and rub your palm into the bridge of your nose as you explain, "I've been trying so hard to hold myself together when you talk like... okay... so... sometimes when you sweet talk me like that it literally makes me... melt..."

"I- I... I..." Dave keeps stuttering. "I- I- I..."

" _I know! It's so gross_ and... and... I'm so sorry! I loved what you said so much so-" You take a deep breath and start quickly blurting out, "it distracted me and I just... I couldn't hold myself together... normally I notice and catch it before it happens! I'm so so- _mmph!"_ He kissed you again. Stuffing his mouth against yours. 

Dave pulls away to pant onto your lips,

"If I didn't have a body, I think you would melt me at every second of the day."

You hum as you sigh. 


	35. blissful dreams

You are so deeply, desperately in love with John.

Every moment of your life you are picturing him and thinking how to impress him.

You've never been the romantic type, you've never smiled so often either.

There's never been a time in your life where you would sing and whistle as you walked through a grocery store for food. Food that John would cook for you for fun.

Never been a time where you would be so excited to be home but you were never greeted with hugs and a cheerful laugh.

Never before have you ever smiled at the drop of a pen, but you only literally smile at a drop of the pen out of hope that it was accidentally John knocking it over. 

Every time you feel the breeze it reminds you of your love.

Every time you hear birds chirping you think about how beautiful their songs sound.

Every time you drive past the enormous evergreens you marvel at their peaceful beauty.

Every thing about this world is beautiful.

John's changed you in an endless amount of ways.

You can't find the words to say that explain exactly all the feelings he gifts you with.

You can't find the brush strokes to capture the beauty of his aura.

You can't find the colors that he makes you see in your dreams.

John actually told you last night that he would try to appear in your dreams. 

John must have slipped into your thoughts, at least a slight amount because he was here in your dreams inviting your to rest with him in the tub, suddenly it's the sky, suddenly it's the sea. Maybe John is indecisive, or maybe it's your own thoughts. Your mind can never settle on any location for dreams. Your mind never settles on anything in dreams, not voices, not scenes, not topics, not people... still John stuck with you the entire time.

You decided to ignore the changing scenery, didn't make any difference were you were or what was going on around you.

You'd see beauty in all of it so long as you are with John.

* * *

When you woke up and moved into the kitchen you found him flipping pancakes. You hugged him from behind and rocked him back and forth like the waves. You kiss his neck and tell him, "I had the most amazing dream last night."

"Oh?" John sounds amused as he tends to the stove.

"You were there." You sigh and start kissing John's neck again.

"I was?" He actually sounds surprised. "Oh man!"

John slapped his forehead, "I forgot! Completely slipped my mind!

"Hu?" You ask.

"I said I'd mess with your dreams, totally forgot." John apologizes, "sorry."

"Oh..." You keep clinging onto John in front of the stove.

"But..." John happily hums, then he giggles. "I think it's so romantic that you're this happy about a dream with me in it. I'll have to do something special for you after breakfast."

"Mh?" You hum and start rubbing John's waist, "what's that, baby?"

"You'll find out after you get back from buying more eggs, we're out and I need them to make dessert." John boops your nose with a warm spatula. "I want to try out that ice cream maker you got me too so buy more milk."

"Can you make a list?" You ask.

"Why write a list for only two things?"

John's making you drive for only two things when this place is plumb nelly next to nothing? Yeah you're going to buy some junk food too, only John chews you out when you buy too much. Even if you get a two-for-one deal on chips he gets antsy about your six pack. But he's the one who always makes you dessert. Maybe that's why. Still a two-for-one deal is two-for-one. And yet... you're a billionaire now. Sometimes you forget, actually you always forget. You've been spending like crazy lately, but you always, _always,_ look for deals. You guess that John doesn't know that either... 

You don't think you ever told him.

John pats your arm like he wants you to let go of him so he can move around easier.

"John." You keep holding him close. You tried to sound casual, but you're voice came off as melancholy.

John stopped what he was doing and attempted to turn his head towards you.

"When my bro died, everything he owned went to me." You say the words like they are a miserable confession. You sigh to clear your mind. "I am a billionaire now."

"Wh-what?" John lightly laughs, "that's a weird joke, but I still like you're off sense of humor." He must be thinking about all the jokes that you showed him you like online.

"No. John." You take another deep breath through your nose. "I really am a billionaire."

John starts dryly laughing and shaking his head. "Okay, it is funny to think that I've been unknowingly harassing a billionaire as a _spoooky ghost in a haaaunted house_." John giggles at his own joke. "Okay. I'll bite. What's the punchline?"

You take another breath, "John. I never made much money with my paintings. I only have like a small cult following online."

"You showed me! They're loyal! I love that you have a little fanclub!" John sounded pleased with your following.

John kept on going like it was a joke, "I bet they didn't know that they are funding you 'seducing a ghost.'" John shook his head and smiled down at the floor below him. He starts making another pancake by pouring the mix into the pan.

"John, how do you think I can afford all of these things when I don't even try to sell my stuff any more?"

"I... Hmmm... Okay." John stops messing around with the stove to turn around and look you dead on. "If you are, then prove it."

"Ha." You love that John's still a big skeptic, even though he trusts you with his soul. 

You walk over to your laptop and start fumbling around with your keyboard. You take a long enough time that John starts focusing on the pancake's again. Making sure the batter coats the pan by lifting it and swaying the pan around.

You call him over, he leans in over your shoulder and looks at your bank account information. You look over at him. His eyes are wider than the open sky.

"What did your brother do?!" John nearly whines the words. 

You shake your head, "stuff."

"Holy shit." John is nearly laughing. 

You start to smell something burning on the stove. John seems like he's still recovering from the shock. You get up and tend to the stove yourself. Flipping the pancake before it chars. 

John suddenly starts cackling and holding onto his sides, _"you're telling me the guy I have to talk into changing his shirt because it's covered in nacho dust, **is loaded?!"**_

John wheezes as he hunches over, still grabbing onto his sides. "Loaded with more then just-" John keeps hacking and choking on his own laughter. He can't get out the words but you know it must be bad if he's struggling this much to breathe when he doesn't even need to.

You take another deep breath through your nose and tend to the stove as John falls to the floor and kicks up his legs behind you.


	36. Come With Me My Love

It's been weeks of living with Dave.

The weeks had turned to months.

The seasons changed from summer to fall.

You normally didn't care much for the changing seasons, meant very little when you weren't even alive... but now...

Dave bought powdered apple cider!

He made a hot cup and the vapor had such a strong scent, you could taste it!

 ** _You_ **could taste it!

You haven't felt this human in years!

You can't even think of a time you've felt more alive than when... when you were with Dave.

Dave would go on walks with you, not just on the beach either! You showed him through the woods around the area. He was eager to get photos of the forests and the wildlife. 

When you two started walking through the wood together, you showed him to a small stream that you knew led up to a river which had a gushing waterfall. Dave didn't know just how _loud_ they can be. Dave took a shot of it and then showed you that with his camera he could take a video that looked just as beautiful as it did in real life. You were shocked at just how amazing it looked. So shocked that you accidently sucked up some of its energy. You gasped and turned to Dave, with wide eyes and a gaping mouth. Dave just started laughing at your shocked expression. You were about to apologize but at seeing how hard he was laughing at you, your face turned sour. You handed Dave back his camera. He took it and wheezed as he tried to thank you. He just kept laughing, you couldn't help it... you joined him.

When walking through the woods, the two of you would always go a different way then before. You showed him where he could find wild berries where and pointed out animal tracks in the drying mud. Dave asked you if you knew about any bears being in the area, you told him that he has nothing to worry about. You said that... he must have taken it as a 'no.' You really meant that he doesn't need to worry about his protection.

If a black bear goes after Dave, it's as good as dead.

Dave would always soak up the sights and get so absorbed in what he was trying to capture with his camera that he probably wouldn't even notice a bear challenging him. He can get so lost in thought, actually, lost in general. He didn't have the best sense of directions, he told you about how phones have maps that tell people where to go. 

Without his small black rectangle in his hand, he'd be helpless!

At least that was the way it was before he met you, you guess you gave his life a new direction, he always tells you something like that almost everyday.

You're no stranger to complementing Dave either.

You always play around with his snowy hair and point out his warm eyes. You told him how warm they make you feel, how sometimes you feel a bit intimidated by his looks. He confessed that he felt the same, he seemed like he was surprised you thought he was **_that_ **irresistible. Dave's so funny to you, he doesn't know how handsome he is! He could work his charm on probably anyone he wanted... and he chose you.

You try your best to show Dave your love whenever you can. Love letters, elaborately decorated cakes, cuddling up to him while he works, posing for him as he paints to capture your likeness... usually all of your attempts to show your affection work _a little too well._

You're surprised that Dave didn't bend you over in the woods yet! You guess Dave isn't that adventurous **and you aren't going to ask!** He'd have to drop all of his equipment that he carries around with him!

Still you have done romantic things on your walks, probably the only time it doesn't end in agressive sex, instead the results are more like passionately kiss him and cool him with a breeze when he was getting winded. You even showed Dave that you can claw marks into trees, it's something that's easier to do when you're emotional but you were still able to draw a heart into a great, tall pine with your finger. You carved 'DAVE & JOHN' into the middle of the heart. Dave loved it so much he took several photos of it and made it his phone's 'wallpaper.' He showed you it was in the back of all the little square images on his little rectangle phone. He seemed so proud he had a photo proving your love for eachother. 

_'Dave is just so cute.'_

You enjoyed your hikes with Dave too. Today, you were taking him on a trip up the mountain range. You came along with Dave on a car trip, he brought a charger that he plugged into his car's dashboard for you. You giggled when he pointed out that it was blue. He loved giving you things that were your favorite color, guess that sort of thing matters to artist... no... Dave is just cute like that!

The two of you talked and joked the entire way.

Saying things like,

"Your face is more shades than face!"

"You talking shit, Casper?"

You laughed at his joke, it was actually funny this time!

While Dave was driving, you made sure to point out to Dave to watch the road when he stared at you too often. You might already be dead, but he isn't. And you'd like to keep it that way, thank you very much! 

On the trip up the mountain you were impressed that Dave could hike up so high without getting exhausted, it does take a lot for him to get tired for walks but the dirt trail up went on _**forever.** _You told Dave you had to loose form for a while. You grabbed onto his shoulders and weightlessly hitched a ride on your lovers back. Dave felt your palms wrap around his shirt, he laughed at the feeling. You started chuckling too. Dave let you know, "I can hear your giggles."

Once you reached the top you lazily took form again.

Dave turned and smiled at you, extending his arm and offering his hand to pull you in. 

He wanted to stare at the view of the woods with you. You were high above the trees, the streams, their wasn't a hint of human life besides the man holding onto you.

You heard a rock tumble onto dirt. You turned and spotted a deer up the rest of the trail. You whispered to Dave to stay quiet.

You grabbed onto one of his cameras off of his neck, making sure it had the right lens for the shots you wanted before you took it.

You clasped onto the camera and became transparent, dropping your body without fear of Dave seeing.

Slowly, you snuck up to the deer.

You held up the camera and got a few close ups.

* * *

"I can't believe that you got such an amazing shot." Dave sounded more than impressed with you. "John, this is amazing!"

You brightly smiled. "I'm sure if you could lose your body you'd be able to do better."

"I'm not so sure." Dave kept flickering through the photos in the camera looking at each image you took closely. "You're really something else..."

Dave lets out a light breath from his lips before he starts speaking again, "I've never really had an interest in landscapes or nature... but coming here was probably the greatest decision I ever made in my life." Dave continues to flip through the camera's slideshow. "I can't think of anything more perfect. Anything better than this." Dave looks up at you. "Almost feels like a dream."

You shake your head as you look right into his tinted shades, "how can you just say words like that without crying?" Tears are already starting to leak from your eyes. 

Dave walks up to you to wipe them in his own shirt.

Once he's done tending to your tears, he kisses your forehead and pulls you close.

He starts swaying you gently back and forth, just like the streams...

just like the oceans...

You didn't mean too...

You let yourself slip...

You started sobbing into his chest.


	37. tears of...

There is rarely a time where you and John aren't together, but you still have to leave to buy food every other day. 

Apparently, he gets bored floating around in your darkroom.

When you're working on your laptop, John likes to read in the study.

You still have to sleep at night, while your lover can never rest.

Your lover, a ghost, half the time you can't see him.

Even when you can't see him, you can feel him. He instantly warms up a room.

You recently noticed that your vision turns slightly blue when he's around too, like a sixth sense. Your eyes are tinted blue when your lover is around and you talk to him like he's right next to you, letting him know that he can rest and that he doesn't need to spend the energy talking to you when you always just blatter on anyway. All you need is his presence and you feel safe.

John still plays piano music for you, you still bring John more plants to tend to.

You do worry from time to time that the small things you always do for John might lose their charm.

You know it isn't something you should concern yourself with, whenever John is bored he lets you know. 

If John feels like he's stuck he drops down to the floor and tells you that he wants to go on a walk on the beach or that he wants to go on a car ride with you. At one point he came with you to the store, the cashier started chatting with him. He was a bit shy about that. You couldn't help but look surprised as they talked, John could pass as someone living. You pointed that out to him in the car, he smiled, he noticed the same thing. 

John didn't care for talking with strangers though, he preferred walking around in nature and reading books. There's something heartwarming about that too you, he doesn't like most people's company but he loves yours.

He'll wake you up at night from time to time, he loves crawling into bed next to you just to cuddle up to you and feel your warmth.

Sometimes, still, he can get a bit in his head. It's rare that this happens, but he will start dripping with water from his hair when he gets emotional about something from his past. You always offer to dry his hair off and hold onto him, not always in that order. You could care less if your face smells like sea-salt and green water. You just hold onto him and stroke his hair, letting your shirt collect all the water from his bangs. You'd rather be drenched in ocean mist than ever let John suffer alone. 

Today, John's been completely fine, smiling and laughing. He played a bit of a prank on you. He set the doorbell off and when you went to open the door he hit you in the face with an unfinished pie he baked for you two days ago.

Apparently, John was quite the prankster.

He loved to leave your keys in hard to reach places when he knew you were about to go shopping. While you start looking for your keys, he'd just giggle and tell you that you're getting warmer or colder. He'd be so good at hiding them he'd trade you the keys for a thousand kisses. He even made you count each one. Whenever you got tired of counting, you'd trail down from his lips to his neck and start nibbling on him. Offering him up a better payment.

You're starting to think... he just hides your keys as a way to get you to offer to kiss him while you pound him. He's smarter than you are, he could play love games with you like that and you wouldn't notice until the fifth or six time... this last time makes seven though.

You asked him if that's what he was doing and he just pointed a finger up at you and said,

"nothing gets past you!" 

John started laughing. You joined him, maybe later on... you'll play a little prank of your own!

Even with a house filled with laughter. You still felt concern in your heart.

You don't know what sets John off, what makes him want to cry...

You don't know what happened to him...

You wonder if you should just ask him, but you already asked too much.

You know he was murdered, he'll tell you when he's ready...

But he started sobbing when you were on the mountain, when you told him that leaving home was the best decision you ever made. You started praising him, telling him how much you care about him. That you love him so much, he brings more joy to you than anything in your life... maybe he just felt stressed because he felt the same... 

You don't want John to cry because he's stressed... but it's okay if he cried because he was happy.


	38. This One Is For Me

Dave has no winter clothes you made him go out and search for some. You don't know if it's going to be chilly soon, but he isn't used to the cold air coming through. He lived his entire life in Houston, he's used to blistering heat. He needs a winter coat, he bought some clothes online but you aren't having it. He needs to grab one for his trip just in case!

You aren't letting him get sick on your watch, if he does you'll have to be the one to take care of him! And you'd rather spend your time reading... Although. The thought of reading a book to Dave doesn't sound half bad.

Dave got himself a coat he thought looked cheap and itchy, it was a stark gray. You thought it made him look handsome. With his white hair and his black shades, he looks like a model. Oh God. Here it comes again. The realization that he's out of your league.

Dave is all dressed. His stuff is in the hall, he's going to be heading out in a few hours.

Dave is gearing up to leave soon for a long drive and a stay in the city, so he can show off his works about his love for you. You focus on that, he loves you. He might be too good looking for a guy who loves ghostbusters and shitty 90's action films, but he loves you... somehow... You smile brightly, pressing the thought out of your mind.

You stood in front of him, your hands clasped in front of your hips, you admire his looks as he lighty flips his hair. You smile and laugh, he's actually trying to impress you! He doesn't need to try at all, you're always stunned by his looks! He is always just so silly!

Dave coughs to clear his throat. "Do you... want to come?" 

"I don't know... maybe next time." You place your clasped hands up to your chest. "You get used to the place, see the sights. Then next time, you can show me around."

"Sure." Dave nodded. "We can go on a date in the city then, I'll just- uh- get used to it first. Yeah..."

You tilt your head, Dave's face is starting to turn red. You smile at him, you feel your cheeks turn pink too, it's probably flushed out by your tan skin though. Everyday you're with Dave you look more and more alive, more and more like yourself.

You're going to miss him while he's gone.

"Might be a bit boring without you." Dave confesses exactly what you're thinking about him.

You hum to agree and continue. "I'm sure that there's going to be plenty of lulls, when your waiting on your room key or something...”

"Yeah, I guess..." Dave agrees. "That and driving." 

"And you're going to be at the show alone..."

"Yeah, but it'll be cool." Dave looks away from you, "might actually be easier. I can tell everyone just how I feel without getting all... red in the face because I know you're hovering above me... that and I can think about what I'm going to say on the drive over without worrying about staring at you. I can't ever take my eyes off of you..."

You have to look away from him for a moment. He just hit you right in your heart again. Dave started up again,

“Even if I’m going to be talking about you for hours, I’m really going to miss you.”

Maybe Dave doesn't have to be sick for you to do this...

You ask, "would it be alright if before you leave... I could sit down and read with you a... a novel you got me?"

"Sure." Dave is still looking away from you, a blush just as red as yours is creeping across his face. 

You giggle and laugh. He's just as nervous as you are about all of this. 

You always find something new that you two have never done together before.

* * *

You read Dave two chapters of a romance novel with a pink cover, the first book you read that he gave you. Dave snuggled up to you as you held a charger in between your fingers. The two of you stayed like that for hours, even after you got tired of reading. You just wanted to feel his warmth against you. He was so comfortable himself, that he fell asleep on your shoulder. You have to stop yourself from giggling once he started to snore. 

Dave smacked his lips, you lightly ran one of your hands over his bangs, trancing your fingers through his hair. You touched his forehead and thought about a peaceful dream Dave could have. One where Dave was blissful and peaceful and cheerful. You got a vision! You tried your best not to flinch, you wanted to see the rest. 

You saw a vision where Dave was driving in the city. You were seeing things from his perspective, you turned your head and saw yourself. You smiled at seeing yourself appear in Dave’s dreams, you do assume this must be his dream. The ‘you’ sitting next to Dave's dreamself smiled just as bright you were smiling. You intently watched Dave's dreams.

The John in Dave's dream spoke up, “you think the flight to Antarctica will be long?"

Dave's vision slightly tilted to the side. "Maybe. I don't think we should go now. I'd rather just stay home. We can always get cola at home."

"Oh! It's almost halloween!" You cheered. "We can carve a Jack-O-Lantern!"

"Sure. I'll take out the seeds, you put on the western and riot." Dave started talking in weird riddles, just like his memes. You guess you remember your dreams making no sense either. "You want to carve the pumpkin, sweet tart cake maker?" What did he call you?

"Yeah! and then fuck it!" The dream version of you got excited at the idea.

"Should I leave all the seeds in then?" Dave joked.

The version of you in his dreams lightly pushed Dave with one of his hands as he giggled, "Oh, Dave! _you are so silly!"_

Is this really how Dave thinks of you? You seem so... _cutsie._

 _"Dave!"_ The you in Dave's care just whined. _"I'm horny again!"_

"Oh, let's take care of that." Dave reached over and started pumping the dream version of youself's shaft.

The you in Dave's dreams started moaning and whining.

The you sitting next to him in real life narrowed your brows. 

_'He really wants me to be this needy... huh?'_

You groaned as you continued to watch Dave's dream.

 _"Da-Dave it's too much!"_ Dave's dream version of you was on edge.

You scoff at that.

You don't get that worked up over handjobs...

_anymore._

"AH!" _'You'_ finished in Dave's hand.

You kept panting and trying to catch your breath, "Dave... I love you so much."

Dave replies, with so much care in his voice. "I love you with my whole heart, John."

"You say that all the time!" The dream you starts bubbly giggling again.

"Because it's true." Dave pressed his nose against the 'dream you's' nose.

Isn't Dave supposed to be driving?

_'oh my god, he's going to end up getting himself killed for me.'_

Dave pulled his head back and started laughing. "You're so cute, baby."

"Nooo! You're the cutest!" You watched yourself giggle and happily talk to Dave about taking a trip to the stars sometime or going to visit the cold desert. Dave's mind started changing the location of where the two of you were- in the city, on the moon, in bed - but you stayed by his side the entire time.

Your skin wasn't pale in his head. Your hair was never damp. Your eyes were never wet.

Dave just saw you as his happy lover. You were always laughing and talking.

Dave never took his eyes off of you.

Suddenly the visions stopped.

You moved your hand away from his forehead once you felt Dave shuffle.

"I tried to give you good dreams." You admit.

You looked at Dave, it was a mental jump for you, you were looking at yourself for a little over an hour. Dave settled himself next to you, you placed your hands on top of his chest as you confess, "I could see your dreams." 

"Oh..." Dave's face started to turn red.

"Um..." You poke at his chest, "can I give you another one of those 'ghost soul' hand jobs?"

"Only if I can too."

You giggled and kissed him as you began to run your palm over his crotch.

* * *

Dave had to send out some more... electronic mails? before he was going to leave for his trip.

He wanted to have a pot of coffee too before he drove to the big city.

You offered to make him something to eat but he told you he was fine. He seemed focused on finishing up his online letter. You dropped your form and continued to watch him type, you want to correct his grammar for him, but he seems to like writing without any punctuation. He's so funny. You kissed his cheek to see if he could feel it. 

Dave hummed, he must have!

You brightly smile and then start kissing his cheek all over. 

Dave continued to type. He seemed happy that you were kissing him on the cheek and over the shoulder while he typed away at he's keys.

You giggled. 

Dave chuckled too. 

When he laughs like that... it does things to you.

You breathed against Dave's ear.

Dave kept typing. That's fine... he doesn't need to focus on you, he can work on his little message while you work on something else.

You sunk down to the floor and under the table.

You felt up his thigh with both hands.

Dave noticed you were down beneath him. His hips buckled as a response.

Maybe this will hurt your throat less if you don’t have a physical form.

Don't matter, you're going to take it all.

You point a finger up to his crotch and quickly point your finger down.

Dave's pants unzipped and pulled down to his ankles, along with his boxers. 

You narrowed your eyes at Dave's semi, picturing it being a raging hard on. 

You bite your lip as soon as Dave's cock starts leaking.

You rush up to force Dave's length into your nonexistent throat.

Dave slams his hands on the table.

You guess that your soul must feel even better than your physical body.

You slip your tongue under his cock, and a little bit through it. 

Instantly.

He came and he came hard.

Dave grabbed onto the table and yelled your name.

**_ "JOH-JOHN!" _ **

All of his load passes through you and drips onto the floor.

You point at it and it evaporates like it's hot coffee or spilt water. 

You float up and sit on Dave's lap, placing your legs in between his thighs. 

You manifest a form once you see that Dave's head is back and his eyes are closed.

Dave's hands are resting at his side. 

He looks like a corpse, you might have just killed him.

You giggled.  "That was a little something to remember me by."

Dave lifts up a hand and starts rubbing your ass.

You kept giggling. "That was for you, my love."

You point at his cock again.

He’s instantly hard. 

Dave shoots up and looks down at his erection and then over to you.

You tilt your head down as you look up at him, “and this is for me.”


	39. alone but still with you

John just ran you ragged. 

The coffee is only making you more jittery but you have to leave. 

Actually... getting in the car and driving away from John is probably the only rest you're going to be able to get. John's in one of his moods. You aren't going to be able to survive if you don't run off. He gets intense when he's out for blood like this.

John walked with you as you put your bags into your trunk. He kissed your lips and pulled you into a goodbye hug. You didn't want to let go, still you did. John stepped back and allowed for you to walk around the car and towards the driver's side. John opened the door for you, you thanked him with a kiss. John pulled you in again, you chuckled into his mouth and John slipped his tongue against yours. You let him, but only for a few moments. You pulled away from your kiss and sat down into your car. John shut the door for you and you flicked your keys up as you stuck it in the ignition. You rolled down your window, instantly John pecked your lips again. 

"Drive safe." John told you, "only look at your phone as a map!"

"Alright, baby." You smiled at your lover.

"And make sure that you get enough rest before you drive back home!"

"I will." Your smile grew larger.

"Goodbye, I love you."

"I love you more."

You waved John goodbye as you pulled out of the driveway. He kept up a physical form until you were out on the street, you couldn't see him any longer. You guess it was time to really leave him.

You rode off of the high of John's goodbye as you drove for a long while... until you realized that it was a goodbye... You feel a small wave of sorrow wash over you. You ignore it and push through.

You need to keep driving on... you can't just turn around now, you've been driving for an hour. If you turn back to him he'd probably just feel bad that you're so attached to him. You don't want to smother him, you don't want to be a bother to him either. He might want some time to cool down and just read. Yeah... some time away will do you both some good.

You start thinking about what you're going to tell the patrons at the art gallery. What you're going to say about your muse, about your love. What you can say without seeming like you're off your rocker. The gallery will probably be fine, it will probably go fine. You don't need to talk about how your lover is a ghost, just that your lover has the most beautiful soul you've ever seen. How the love of your life is proof that something can be eternal, how love never leaves this world... how... how... wait... if ghosts are real... then... where's your brother's soul right now? Your mind keeps focused on the question, you haven't thought about him in so long, you were so focused on your love of John you completely forgot about him. You wonder if he is as alone as John is, if maybe you could find him again... then again... why would you... maybe it's best to let that go... if his soul is haunting the Earth, that is for him to do alone. You were so young when he started 'training' you, beating you. Comparing every act of violence to a historical battle. Every beating only served to make you _stronger._ You scoffed at the thought. It was just a eighteen year old boy whipping the shit out of his little brother as a way to relieve stress from his work that he didn't tell you anything about. Why make time for a man who never gave you anything more than a broken wrist and a glare.

_"Dave, if you didn't want to get thrown down the stairs then you shouldn't have gotten caught."_

Why let yourself think about that, he's dead. Those years of your life are dead.

You're lover is what matters now and... well he's dead too... not the best thing to lead into but alright... He's at least with you... well not right now but... fuck. 

John is always willing to make you feel joy, make you laugh, make you smile, keep you safe, guide you on walks, guide you through life... amazing that someone whose dead is a better guide than the man who was supposed to raise you. John is really something else.


	40. Defaced

You've been on your own for several hours now, reading your books on the couch and smiling down at the pages. Even though Dave is out of the house you can still cuddle up with a book he bought for you in the house you both share. You sighed. Your mind keeps drifting off to thoughts of how happy Dave is going to be to see you again once he gets back! He's going to tell you all about how his show went and how proud he is of his work! OH! And of himself! You want Dave to take pride in himself! In how beautiful his paintings are! Those drawings of his perfectly capture his feelings about you, you know, you feel the same way about him!

You heard a knocking on the door. It interrupts your train of thought. 

That's more than fine, you've been thinking about Dave for hours, on-and-off.

You'll be -as Dave would say- _'back on your bullshit'_ in no time.

You laugh as you placed your book down on the cushion and floated outside.

It's probably another delivery.

You're eager to see what came this time in the mail this time, maybe it's that coat you made Dave buy for himself. 

You peak your head through the door, without taking form of course.

You see two men standing on the porch.

They don't have anything, they are both wearing black gloves.

Seems a bit strange.

Maybe he's lost...

or maybe he's a robber checking if someone is home. 

You are about to go back in and take form... 

When you see him. 

A man you haven't seen in years.

A man you never thought you would see again.

Returning to the place where he defaced you.

You blankly stare at him. Eyes wide open, following his movements as he speaks with the other two men.

You know you should have listened to what he was saying if he was here.

Your ears stop ringing once you hear the word "Dave."

You don't hesitate. 

You don't think. 

You scratch him across the chest.

The mark must feel like blistering heat with salt drenched into the wounds.

The four strikes across his chest made him lose his footing and fall back onto the porch.

The other two men bolt for the car, running from the poltergeist that just revealed itself.

You didn't take form, but everyone noticed that motherfucker is bleeding on the floor.

The bastard has to know that it is **you.**

He isn't stupid.... but you aren't either.

He stands up. He glances at the front door, looking right through you.

If he spends another moment on these steps, you're going to scream and bust his eardrums.

He turns away. 

He slowly walks down the wooden steps.

He paces to his car like he's taking a leisurely stroll. 

You watch as he leaves your driveway.

If he comes back to harm Dave, you'll drag his soul to hell yourself.


	41. together again

Not only did the gallery go well, everything did!

You arrived at the hotel with no issue, you set up everything in the gallery without a hitch and everyone walked up to ask you questions. You told several people stories about your lover, you're lover who love to play pranks and play the piano. You're lover whose as swift as the wind and as sharp as a blade. You laughed and smiled as you carried John in your heart, a crowd of people gathered around you as they drank wine and laughed at your story where you learned about how fucking wild 80's music really was. 

One woman walked up to you after the showing and told you how much she enjoyed hearing about how John picks you wild berries and shows you around the area, she thought you were opposites. You told her that you were the same in the ways that mattered, _you both aren't the most social people._ She laughed as she joked, "could have fooled me! Actually, you did!"

You drove back to your home, ready to tell John about all the experiences you had while you carried thoughts of him with you. You parked into your driveway and didn't bother grabbing your suitcase, that can wait! You grab the bag next to you on the passenger seat and march up to the front door. 

John must have seen you coming, once you open the door he is standing by the doorway. Your smile drops once you see that he looks upset. You instantly drop your duffle bag to the floor. You start rubbing his arms, "what happened? What is it?" 

Just then, you notice, sea water is smeared all over your hands. 

John is drenched completely.

You look at John's face.

Tears start to form in his eyes.

John turns his head away from you. 

Like he's ashamed.

He sobs.

John covers his mouth with one hand and then digs his nails into his own cheek.

You whisper. "hey..."

You pull him into a hug and force his head into your your shoulder.

"It's okay, I'm here now." You stroke his back. "Next time we can go together." 

You keep rubbing his back and stroking his hair. 

John starts sobbing harder. He can't get any words out. He can't tell you what's wrong. 

He doesn't need to if he doesn't want to. 

You don't need to know, you just need to be with him. 


	42. His Eternal Requiem

You sighed as you looked out of the car window. 

Summer vacation with your cousin that you hardly know sounded like a bummer, but he talked you into it and you couldn't just back out now. 

Once you got there, the place looked better than you expected. Still. It was just a rental so you weren't expecting much. You were told that it didn't have that many beds, so you already volunteered to sleep on the couch. You don't want to sleep near any of the other guys... you had to hide a lot about yourself to everyone you knew. You weren't sure how your dad or your cousin would take it if they knew you liked men. If your cousin knew there's no way that he would have ever invited you to party with his friends in this beach house.

Your cousin introduced you to some of his friends, some of them were girls. Something he 'warned' you about. "They are off limits." He joked with you. Then he whispered into your ear, "I call dibs on the blonde one." You laughed as he started telling you their names. Suddenly, this tall, looming man walked into the hall, he was standing in front of you. The guy was more muscular than most of the fresh-out-of-high-school kids you've seen. You think you stared at his arms for too long, he must have picked that up. He just raised a brow at you. You smiled anyway, "Hey! I'm John."

"I know." The man replied. "He just said that."

Everyone laughed at his comment, including you. You forced yourself to laugh along as your cousin explained that you are an airhead sometimes, and all you ever think about is reading books.

"Really?" The muscular man in front of you seemed a bit interested. 

"Uh! Ye-yeah!" You nodded. "I-"

Your cousin interrupted you before you had a chance to speak, "he's really well-read! Damn shy too."

You laugh, he wasn't wrong about that. You feel a bit exposed with everyone focusing on you so you ask the group how they got to know your cousin. Lucky, everyone got caught up in their own conversations after that. Everybody broke of into little groups and left you nearly alone. Unlucky... everyone was ready to hit the beach, some of the girls started walking off and cheering, getting ready for the holiday full of underaged drinking and playing chicken in the water... and of course your cousin wanted you to join in the fray. You quietly declined once he asked you to join.

You just carried your stuff into the study right next to where you were standing.

You sighed as you swung your bag onto the couch you'd be sleeping on for the next week-and-a-half. You start fumbling through your luggage, hoping to find a book so you can just bury your nose in it till this was all over. Suddenly you saw movement out of the corner of your eye. You turned your head to see that- It was the guy from before! He told you, "girls wanted me to ask you to join."

"Oh- Uh- Yeah! I'll be there!" You couldn't bring yourself to decline when it was a guy that... _attractive_ asking you directly. You let out the lightest sigh your lungs could puff out of your throat as he left. You're going to have to get undressed and then join the others... as they drink and party. Drink and party as you eye some topless guy after the girls fill you up with a couple of beers. You can't let that happen! You can't let yourself drink anything!

You quickly turn your head and scramble your thoughts around to focus on finding your book. You pull it out and sigh. It’s going to be a long read so it should take you the whole trip to finish... hopefully it will last you that long.

* * *

“Hey! John!” One of the girls calls you over, you bury your face in your book.

You're sitting down outside of the house on the porch.

”What’s the matter?! Never see a girl in a bikini this small before?!” She jokes with you. “Come on! Get in the water!"

"Yeah!" Another curvier girl calls to you, "join us!”

”oh- Uh- I’m good.” You reply.

"What are you, Gay?!" Another boy calls out to you.

You hide your flushed cheeks behind your book. The handsome man from before lightly shoves the guy who called out to you in the back.

The kid's still laughing but it looks like the guy you like is roughing him up a bit on your behalf. He keeps smacking the boy who called out to you in the arm. You blush behind your book, it seems like he's defending you... from a claim that is more than true.

Still, you watched him from a distance.

You still don’t know his name.

You wish you knew.

He was devastatingly handsome and devilishly charming.

You sighed when you saw him cross his arms.

He looks over at you.

You flinch, he noticed you were looking again!

No. He can’t see that you’re looking at him from this distance.

He must think you’re still looking at the book.

He lifted up his arm and waved at you. 

You sheepishly lift up one of your hand as you put down your book.

You give him a light smile and an even gentler wave.

* * *

In the morning you cooked up breakfast for everyone with the girls, you had to get one of the guys to go out and get ingredients from the store. The girls all asked you to show them how to make omelettes, so you showed them.

They were all playing around with the spatulas, slapping each others bottoms and giggling as some of the guys watched.

All of the girls and guys were joking around that you're the chef of the house.

"You're like the poor man's Chef Boyardee" The blonde girl your cousin had his eye on joked.

"The poor man's Chef Boyardee, is Chef Boyardee." Another girl lowered her eyes at the blonde.

You kept scraping away at the pan while the two girls starts playfully pinching each others elbows and teasing each other's bed heads. The other girls joked that the blonde spent all morning fixing her hair too look good for a certain guy in the house. You weren't sure who, once something goes in one ear for you it goes straight out the other. Apparently she never got to see him that often and she'd fall flat on her face trying to get him to acknowledge her looks. She's a beautiful girl, even without the pink-purple makeup she dusted all over her face. You tell her that she just needs to keep her hopes up and she'll be fine. She kisses you on your cheek for your words of encouragement. The girls start picking at you for getting a kiss from the strawberry blonde.

"Ohhh hooo!" One of the girls laughed. "Got a kiss from the _prettiest girl in the house_."

The strawberry blonde girl slapped her arm in response. 

You sighed and shook your head as you finished breakfast.

The sweet strawberry blonde girl just squealed, "ohhh!" You turned your head and saw that she put her fists up to her perky chest. Her pastel pink nails were driving into the palms of her hands as she bit her bottom lip. She ran right up to whomever it was she was excited to see.

Her voice was ear-piercing as she called out some boy's name. She threw herself into his arms and hugged him.

That's it....

That's his name.

* * *

You wear already in your swim trunks, covering the top of your body with one of your baggy shirts.

Even though you were dressed for the beach, you were sitting upstairs.

You were tempted to find a quiet place to read, you forgot this was one of the rooms people were using to sleep. Apparently you were sitting on your cousin's bed.

He came in and sat down besides you.

"John. I get that you're shy, but you think you could just try to swim with the others? Just for today? You've been hanging out with everyone in the morning, making breakfast and whatnot... and the girls love you! Just come out of your shell a bit, it's summer! Live a little!"

You look down at the floor as you nod your head, "alright."

You suppose that he really is right.

You only ever read about adventures, maybe you should go on one of your own.

You step outside with your cousin besides you.

The blonde girl from before sees you and happily cheers, "John's Out!"

You awkwardly laugh as she runs up to you. She wraps her hand around your wrist and drags you down the beach. Everyone else watches as she pulls you to the pier.

"Guys!" She happily shows you to a couple of her other friends, she's mainly focused on the tall, strong man that caught her eye _. "John's decided to join uuuuussss!"_ She sung.

"Bangin'" Some guy nods his head. "You wanna beer?" He asks you.

You glance at the handsome man you like. He's holding a bottle in his hand.

You can't decline in front of the guy you like! You say, "sure." 

"Shit. We're all out." One of their other friends points out.

"Here." The tall, muscular guy hands you his. "Take the rest of mine."

You glance up at him, he's wearing a baseball cap so you choose to focus on that instead of his bare, muscular chest. His defined abs, his large pecs. No! Damn it! You just stared at his chest again! You awkwardly laugh on instinct. 

"See! He doesn't need your backwash!" Your cousin jokes. You completely forgot you were talking about taking his beer.

"Dude, it's half full." He declares as he hands it to you, you take it and happily sip on the wheaty drink. 

You smile after you take a sip. "Thanks."

"Nah." He rejects your thanks, "you're doing me a favor."

The handsome man in front of you points at the bottle, "beer we got is shit."

The girl next to you starts cracking up.

She snorts and then offers, "I have some patron inside!" She looks to young to have gotten that legally. 

"I don't really drink, regardless." He shrugs.

"Me neither." You tell him. You start blushing, you didn't mean to speak.

The blonde girl next to you starts rubbing your back, patting you, she seems happy that you just slipped out of your shell for a moment.

The muscular man points at you, "don't fall into the habit." Must be talking about drinking.

You smile at him, "I think I'll take your advice."

"Good." He nods. "Shit like that never leads to anything good."

The blonde girl pretended to scoff. "Passive aggressive, much."

Your cousin started laughing. The blonde girl joins in. You start chuckling too.

Suddenly, he takes off his cap and places it on top of your head. 

He stares at you, slightly pulling one side of his lips into a smile.

He starts walking backwards.

Stepping back as you watch him and as he watches you.

"What are you doing?" Your cousin asks him.

"Going for a swim." He keeps walking until he falls backwards off of the pier and into the water.

Everyone starts cracking up.

You hold onto your side as you grip onto your beer bottle.

You keep laughing, struggling to breathe, 

"He’s so funny!" 

* * *

Late one night, you walked into the kitchen.

You dragged out some lemonade out of the fridge, it's better than drinking the water out of the tap here. You turn around to find a cup.

You gasp when you see him looming over you. 

"I didn't hear you walking in." You confess.

"You scared me." You chuckle.

"Sorry... I didn't mean to scare you." He takes a step forward, you take a step back.

"What.. uh... are you doing?" You ask him.

He leans down slightly, he's still so much taller than you. "I noticed you staring at me."

"Uh..." You glance to the side. You keep thinking of what to say. "I um... I'm sorry." You think you just found the right words to say, "I'm not the best at making friends."

He leans down and kisses you, placing his lips against yours. 

He pulls away, lightly breaking his gentle kiss and releasing your lips.

You turn completely red. "I- I- this! I don't- I!" Your hand is violently gripping the lemonade carton. You're struggling to catch your breath again. 

He leans over and whispers into your ear. "I'll talk to you tomorrow." 

* * *

Here you were, standing in the same exact spot as last night, only now it's morning, you're looking in the fridge for eggs and a pack of girls are behind you waiting for those eggs. You don't have enough to make breakfast for the whole house. You need to go out and get some. You tell the girls, "we need to make a trip."

All of them groan, all but one. The blonde clasps her hands together and cheers. 

"I know who can drive us!" She runs out of the room to go get her crush.

Another one of the girls groans, "drive her. I'm staying here." She sits down in one of the kitchen table's chairs. 

"Come on!" One of the girls with long black hair shoves her, "a trip to the store will be fun!"

"You say that, but your hair is a mess and we're all in our pajamas." The girl who is sitting rightfully pointed out.

"Guess we'll all have to get dressed then!" The girl with the long black hair cheers.

The other girls all hurried out of the room and up the stairs. You followed, moving into the room on the first floor you're staying in to get dressed.

You strip off your baggy pajama shirt for another baggy shirt. You quickly change your bottom layer of clothes before anyone can walk by.

You peak your head out of the room and look upstairs, the blonde girl is gleefully running down stairs. 

"Come on, come on!" She grabs your hand. "Before anyone else comes!"

"Wha-what?" You let her drag you outside of the front door and down the porch steps. 

"I don't want any of the other girls getting close to my man!" She tells you. "It's just going to be me, you and the _love of my life!"_

"Uh- okay?" 

She is still dragging you by the hand, you let her.

She brought you around the porch and to the side of the house.

There he was, just sitting on a bench and reading something that was as large as a phonebook. You tried to lean in to see what he was reading, as you leaned over the blonde girl got up on her tiptoes in her platform shoes and waved to him.

"Yoohoooo! Cutiepieee!" She called out to him without a hint of shame in her voice. "You're going to drive us to the store! We're out of eggs!"

He glanced over at her, when he noticed you his brows rose up. He sat up and closed his book. "Let me get my keys."

She lifted up one of her hands, jingling his keys. In her other hand she was still holding yours.

"Well, I need to do my own shopping anyway." He strolls past the two of you.

Both of you happily turn around to follow him to his car. Once you're there, you hop in the back seat and she hops in the spot next to him. The car starts and the strawberry blonde starts the radio, she starts singing along "GIRLS! JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN!"

You let out a laugh. She's more than funny, she's hilarious.

You start backing out of the driveway and she keeps singing. Poking the man in the driver's seat and happily bobbing her head back and forth. 

"Come on!" She leans back to shove your shoulder, "sing along!"

"I don't know this song!" You laugh as you tell her.

"You don't!?" She acts like she just witnessed a murder. "What?! This has been on the radio for like... months!?" 

"I usually read." You tell her.

"My god!" She turned to look at the driver. "He _is_ just like you."

"Told you." He nodded at her.

"Okay!" She playfully scoffed and gestures with her hands for him to listen to her. "He isn't a dick like you."

He laughs, laughs like it was a dry cough. "Who's to say he isn't?"

She laughed and pointed her thumb at him while she turns her head back to look at you, "can you _ba- lieve_ this guy?!" She scoffed.

You laugh and shake your head, "I don't know... I am a bit standoffish." You admit.

"See?" He points back at you. "We're a perfect match."

* * *

Those words have been ringing in your head for several moments now.

The entire drive, the entire walk to through the store, the entire line at the register.

_'...a perfect match?'_

You help carry several paper bags back to his car.

A perfect match? The two of you...? When he could be with the most beautiful girl that you've ever seen? He wants to be with another guy... he wants to be with _you._

Your blank expression turns to a smile when you notice that he's staring at you.

He's staring at you! He's looking at you and giving you a thumbs up. 

You knew you liked him the moment you saw him, maybe he felt the same?

This is like... like... like a match made in heaven! 

You take your seat in the back of the car and start singing along with the radio, it's a Johnny Cash song so at least you know the lyrics, but God you are tone deaf. You laugh at the sound of your own voice. You decided to stop embarrassing yourself, but the girl ahead of you couldn't care less about that. She's in love with someone in the car and she'll sing to her heart's content! You don't want to let her down, you don't want to hurt her by taking her man... so you won't let her know. You'll just hum along with her tune and happily laugh when her voice cracks when she tries to hit the high notes in the next song that comes on. 

You'll smile along with her when she playfully hits on the man in the driver's seat.

When she pretends that she wants to take the wheel, she even gets him to laugh. 

You laugh and smile at the sound.

You could die in this moment... and feel this happiness forever. 

* * *

From the moment you got back, you were happily singing and cooking with the girls, serving up breakfast and listening to your cousin's crazy stories while you and the other guys at on the floor. 

You were going to help with the dishes after but _someone_ you had your eye on decided to talk with you.

You walked outside with him, he wanted to sit down on the pier to talk. 

The two of you sat down at the end of it. He didn't say a word, just stared at the endless ocean right next to you. You waited for him to speak. He just wasn't talking. You turned your head towards him, you parted open your lips and took a light breath to say something- and that's when he decided to speak.

"From the moment I saw you I knew that you'd be mine."

You didn't move

Your mouth was still parted open.

You shivered a bit from the chill of the salt coated wind.

He turned towards you, "what would you say to turning the last few days of vacation we have here... into a summer romance?"

* * *

You were singing in the kitchen every morning, you were running on the beach everyday and you were reading next to your lover every night.

He would gently hold your hand as the two of you read on the bench besides the house, the bench that was facing the woods. 

He was such a perfect reflection of you, the two of you enjoyed scenery of the calm peaceful nature. The two of you loved calmly reading books. The two of you loved each others company. 

Every night he would sneak down to your room and start kissing you. You'd let him softly kiss your lips until his kisses became more passionate, like you could feel the fiercely lust behind them. He wanted you so badly, so deeply, he'd risk getting caught sneaking down to you every night. He'd risk getting outed, but he couldn't care... he wanted you that badly.

You started to have a new appreciation for the people around you though, if _he_ choose to keep these people as company you could understand why. Some of them would go out to the beach and smoke pot but some of them were very intelligent, all of them were about to take off to start college soon, they all knew each other from the honors program they were in. Your cousin told you that the guy you're always hanging out with is a child genius. You had no idea but you can certainly see it. 

You confessed that your cousin told you how clever he is, something he doesn't seem to happy with for whatever reason. Maybe he just wanted one person to view him as 'normal' well he is far from usual... and that is more than okay. You adore his physique, you love books as much as he does. His bronze and his brains are what drew you to him in the first place, so you let him know. He seems pacified by your words. 

After you talked with him you head out to the beach to hang out with the others.

You ran around outside with the guys. One of them decided to take off their shirt in the water and start snapping at the guys butts with it! You thought it was hilarious that he kept trying to get you, but you're new boyfriend didn't. He ripped the shirt out of his hand and started smacking the guy with it. Chasing him instead, the guys were acting like it was part of the game... but you saw something more vicious in it. It...

It looks like he was angrily protecting you. 

* * *

It's your last night here.

He came downstairs again, you were reading so long that you forgot to get changed.

You're topless and in your swim trunks as you sit down on the sofa.

It's your last night with him... for now... the two of you will probably keep in touch after this, you know that you will. He loves your company and... you love his.

He walks up to you and starts softly kissing your lips. The kiss turns to passion quicker than usual. Not that you mind. You accept his tongue in your mouth, you wrap your arms around his shoulders and hold onto him as he embraces you. He starts feeling your chest like usual, but this time you aren't wearing a shirt. You are about to say something when he suddenly starts feeling up your thighs.

You pull away from your kiss and gasp.

"wait-" You wrap your palm around his wrist as you whisper, "someone will catch us!

"come on." He keeps kissing your neck. "I'm so hot for you."

"I... I don’t want anyone finding us..." You confess. "I- let's just not do this here."

He kisses your lips again before pulling away. "let's take this under the pier."

You nod your head in agreement.

* * *

"It's cold outside." You grab onto your arms and shiver. 

"Here." He strips off his black sweater, revealing his bare chest to you. "it's yours for the night."

You blush as you put it on as the two you walk down to the pier.

The sand sticking to the soles of your feet, the feeling of the cool summer air against your face. 

The water is probably freezing too, but it's better than someone catching you inside. You don't know why you didn't think of this earlier.

You laid down underneath the pier and he crawled on top of you.

Something about the gesture felt dangerous.

Like he is a predator stalking his prey.

You desperately want to taste his lips again.

You grab onto his shoulder and pull him into a kiss.

He meets your passion with his own, he starts feeling your waist.

You start feeling his back.

He pulls away, excitingly grabbing onto his belt.

He is undoing his pant's button and unzipping it.

"uh.. i don't know if i'm ready for that." You slowly sit up.

“Let's just take it slow, okay?” He keeps pulling his pants down.

"but... you don't have any protection." You point out.

"If I go out and get some everyone will know we're doing this, man." He tells you, "I thought you didn't want that."

"Uh... well you don't have anything." You awkwardly shrug. 

"im a virgin." He confesses.

"oh." You nervously laugh. "me... too."

He sat down with his knees splayed out, sitting on his legs and slowly revealing his erection.

You glanced at it, slightly with fear... but mostly with aphension.

He's big. You aren't sure if it's going to be painful... you aren't sure how this is going to feel, but you're curious to know how it does.

He uses his hand to guide you down to his crotch. You allow him too.

You gently lick it, you aren't going to do anything to hasty. Just slowly take the tip.

He gasps at the feeling, you must be doing something right.

You keep slowly working him with your tongue when he whispers,

“come on, take just a bit more.”

You slowly try to fit more into your mouth, taking it bit by tiny bit.

Suddenly, he slammed the whole thing down your throat.

It made you gag so hard you nearly threw up.

You pulled your head away.

You started coughing and gagging.

“Sorry," he says. "thought you could handle my dick.”

You kept coughing, struggling not to vomit from both the pain and your nerves.

“It's okay," he tries to soothe you by rubbing your back. "I’ll make it up to you.”

“By doing what?” You look up at him with tears in your eyes.

He kisses your lips again, softly.

"I didn’t mean any harm with that." He tells you.

He though you could handle it and than when you couldn’t he- he’s rubbing your thigh…

“Hold on-“ you pull away from your kiss. “That’s- that’s moving a little fast don’t you think?”

“Come on, didn’t you say you wanted a nice summer romance?”

“Yeah, not a-" You take a breath and start again. "Okay. I don’t know if I’m ready for this just yet and- and I do want to use a condom.” You nod rappily at the thought of using protection.

“Come on... don’t you trust me?" He kisses your neck. "I’ll take care of you.”

“I-" you look away as you confess. "I don’t want to get hurt like that again.”

“it’ll feel really good." He whispers as he starts kissing your neck. "promise."

He slowly slipped himself inside of you...

He gave you a second to adjust to his size.

He felt huge inside of you. It- it wasn’t good like he said it would be.

“It..." You grunt. "It actually hurts.” Tears are forming in your eyes.

“Shhh… don’t worry, it’ll feel good.”

He started holding your arms down. Like he was prepaiding for you to-

“Hey- Hey!” You started pulling against his hands. “Your gripping down to tight on me-“

He kept thrusting into you.

“It’ll feel good, just let it.”

You started twisting. Testing to see if he was-

He was...

He’s actually making it so you can’t fight him off.

**“I don’t want-"**

“let it happen."

You started kicking the ground. Kicking up sand and trying to get at his knees.

 _ **“I- stop! Stop it!”**_ You feel tears build up in your throat. 

You grunted. 

He kept pushing in and out of you.

It was hurting you, the fear was even worse than the pain.

And you were so tense, it made the pain worse.

It’s killing you.

He slammed into you with all the force he could muster.

You tried looking down. He was driving into you, ramming into you like a battering ram. Breaking you apart. It’s hurting you so much. You can hardly see through your tears.

It’s dark out but you notice- you see…

**“I- I think I’m bleeding! Wait- Wait! Stop! You’re actually hurting me!”**

He released his grip on one of your wrists. 

You were going to try to make a break for it, but he flipped you over.

He's forcing you down to the sand.

He just turned you over and forced your face into the sand. You were struggling to lift up your head. You think he just snapped your glasses in half. You can’t tell. Everything was a blur. Your ears are ringing. He keeps driving into you. Your face feels like it's on fire. He's pulling your arms back as you struggle to lift up your head. It was so painful.

**Everything was so painful.**

The way he was slamming into you. It was so painful.

He just pulled your arms back enough that you could breath.

You gasped for air several times.

Your lungs are filled with sand.

You can feel grains go down your throat as you build up the strength to scream.

A blood curdling scream.

You desperately yell, **“HELP!”**

He slammed your head back down.

He won’t let you breathe.

You need to breathe.

He- he’s...

He just finished inside of you.

He still won’t let you back up.

You start struggling.

He's pulling you down more to the water under the pier. 

You can feel the tides roll underneath your body.

He’s sticking his fingers inside of you.

He’s trying to get it out of you.

You lift your head up.

“Wait-" He slams it back down.

You fight to get your head back up, “Stop!" You cough. "I won’t- I don’t want anyone knowing I like men!" You cough out sand again. "I won’t say anything! Okay! I wasn’t planning on it! Just! Let me go!” You keep struggling.

He forces your head into the sand again.

"You just screamed for help." He sounds like he's... enjoying this more than the sex.

"What does it feel like? Does it feel good?" He asks you. "Does dying feel... good?" 

You feel so much fear in your soul.

It's like everything just stopped.

You can't hear the sounds of the waves smacking against the sand.

You can't bring yourself to struggle.

The feeling... it feels like death...

It feels like you're dying.

You're on the verge of slipping away.

Suddenly you hear the waves again.

You hear the sound of music playing from the house you just left behind.

You're floating in the air.

Like you were just spat out by your own body...

**Rejected by that body.**

**You watch from up above him as he puts your pants back on your corpse.**

**He drags your body out into the ocean.**

**He's swimming with it.**

**He walks back in.**

**Eventually they all came out.**

**One of them spotted your corpse, bloated with salt water.**

**The sea spat it back out again.**

**Everyone left.**

**Everyone returned back to their lives, your cousin must have talked to your father. You maybe should have gone back home with him... but you were to busy.**

**You were too busy clawing that pier apart.**

**Ripping it to shreds until it's non-existent.**

**You'd smash the sand in the ground till it turned to glass. You’d scream till all of the animals left the surrounding land. You’d turn the water to boiling blood. You’d claw at trees.**

**You’d never except the demon would come back.**

**That motherfucker made the mistake of coming back.**


	43. dry tears

"Oh... Oh God, John."

You wipe a tear out of your own eye. You kiss him all over his lips and his cheeks and his face. You grab his wrists and kiss those too.

“I’ll- John I’ll give you everything I have… I love you- I love you just like you love me. Actually- I love you even more. I love every part of you. Your eyes. Y-Your cute nose. Your lips. Your adorable overbite. The way that you talk when your pretending that your angry with me, and I love the way you talk when you show how in love with me you are..."

You look him in the eyes when you say. "John, I am completely, and fully in love with you."

Johns hair is still dripping wet. You grab onto the blanket behind him on the top of the cough to rub John down with.

"I will always be right here." You tell him. "I will always be here to pick you back up, I'll always be here when you need me. From now on. We'll stick together. The gallery I went to was beautiful, everyone there loved the stories I told them about us. I've never seen people smile from a joke I told... or smile at a work I made."

"John." You hold onto his shoulders when you say,

"You made me a better person."

John chokes back a sob.

He forces his head into your chest.

He keeps crying into your shirt, his throat sounds completely dry.

He feels like a heavy weight, his entire soul is carrying so much strife.

You hold onto him.

Letting him cry into your shirt while you dry off his hair.

It keeps getting wet, but you're going to dry it off until it stays dry for good.

You'll always be there to dry John's tears. 


	44. rest for a while

John's been miserable.

He's hardly been doing anything.

He just looks out at the sea.

You can see him outside of the window...

holding together a physical form so he can place his feet in the sand.

It's freezing outside. 

Snowing now.

You leave him too it.

John's been so miserable. 

You can understand why.

It's so much...

The man who... did that to him came by the house again for whatever reason.

You head back upstairs.

You rest for the night.

Thinking about what you are going to do next.

You know what you want to do...

You aren't sure when is a good time to spring this on him.

You couldn't get any sleep last night.

You walk downstairs, still in your pajamas and slippers.

You walk into the kitchen.

You see John, sitting down in the kitchen with a large white cake in front of him.

You step up to the table.

"Happy birthday." John smiles softly at you. 

"It... it's my birthday?" You ask.

John nods.

"You..." John hesitates to say, "You told me when we first started dating what day it was... I asked because... I wanted to show to you that I remembered it."

John tells you, "Decemeber 3rd."

You smile at John, "yours is April 13."

"You..." John stares into your eyes. His hair is still damp "-you remembered?"

"Of course..." Dave smiles. "If it means a lot to you, it means a lot to me."

John looks up at you.

"Birthdays are for celebrating right?" You ask him.

John nods.

"Let's go up stairs, put on some german rap and dance."

John laughs. Chuckling at the thought.

He always laughs at the way you word things, you always want to hear that sweet laugh.

You love seeing that beautiful smile...

John simmers his grin into a gentle smile, he slowly starts to look to the side again.

He looks back up at you...

like he loves your company.

He looks at you...

like he loves you.

You think...

now it's the right time.


	45. He decided this

Dave is muttering to himself. Walking back-and-forth. He looks stressed about something.

You float down and take form, you want to see what is bothering him so much.

Tilting your head as Dave paces and talks to himself, “you can do this, I can do this, I’ve got this. I’ve got this. I’m not going to make a fool of myself. Probably not. I’ve got this. Just have to-" you couldn't help yourself, you giggle.

“Hi.” You lift up a hand and put down all of your fingers one-b-one, like a wave. When you make a fist you place it behind your back and lean forward, “you look handsome.”

Dave is wearing his button up shirt and black dress pants. He actually tucked in his button-up so he looks very nice and clean. He’s probably going to ask you out on a big date again.

Your face is already blushing but you just keep gazing up at the ceiling like you have no clue what he's about to say. You ignore the fact that your feet are lifting off the ground as you keep bending backwards, innocently ignoring everything around you... like you're naive and oh so innocent. 

“John?”

“Yes, my love?” You say the words so casually, like they don’t grab into your heart and drag it out of your chest when you speak them.

“When I first moves here... You stood here when I searched around for you. I felt like someone was waiting on me and I looked around and apparently, I looked right at you.” He cleared his throat. “When you first showed your face to me I wasn’t afraid of you. I never felt like you would hurt me, and you never did. When I left home I wasn't really looking for inspiration, I was looking for something worth… anything. For something of real value in the world. What we have between us- that’s the most important thing that’s ever happened to me. When I got the idea in my head It was the easiest choice I’ve ever made. No part of my mind voted against this.”

He knelt down on one knee.

You cover your mouth to keep yourself from gasping.

He takes a black felt case out of his back pocket.

“Will you, John Egbert, marry me…”

The case he has in his hands is abnormally large for a ring case.

When he opens it you see two golden wedding bands, “in this very moment?”

You gasp and cover your face with both of your hands.

You need to pull yourself together. Your feet are starting to fade, he’s shaking you down to your very core and you’re only a soul. You’re not sure your spirit can withstand how much pressure there is on your heart in this very moment.

You are at a loss for words. Your lips are parted open and your eyes are glistening with tears. You stick out your hand. You wave it a few times, gesturing for him to take it. He lightly holds onto your palm and slips on your ring. It fuses instantly with your soul. Gold is such an easy material to soak up.

You gaze down at the bright band. You are not wearing it, it is a part of you.

Dave holds up the box towards you. You glance down, you instantly swipe your hand down and grab the ring. You forget yourself and allow your feet to completely swing backwards. Dave takes notice that you're floating in midair as you pinch the gold ring between your fingers. You pay no mind, you take Dave’s left hand and place the band on his ring finger. After you do, you kiss the back of his hand. You decided to offer him eternal vows,

“I promise that I will be a loving husband and care for you when you are in need. I offer everything I have, I offer my soul up to you." You nod after you speak the words. Closing your eyes like you are deep in though. 

Dave offers you vows of his own, “I promise I will always be there to comfort you, Including in my own death. I offer myself eternally to you.” 

You smile at him, “do you Dave Strider take me, John Egbert as your husband?”

“I do, do you John Egbert take me, Dave Strider as your husband?”

“I do!" You clap your hands together, applauding yourself.

You lean forwards and cheerfully ask, "May I kiss the groom!?” 

“You don’t _ever_ have to ask.”

He swoops you out of the air and deeply kisses you in a passionate, lengthy embrace. When he finally pulls you both back up you sink into his arms. Struggling to keep your physical form from how much your heart is melting you. He lifts you up as if he is carrying his bride, he does the action with such ease it is like his plucking you up while you both are submerged in water. You nearly float out of his hands as he takes you up the stairs. You feel so light, he has to wrap is fingers around your arm and your thigh to keep you grounded. Hopefully you won't have this problem while you're lying in your wedding bed.

You happily giggle, kicking up your legs as your husband carries you.


	46. love

You are laying in bed, John ran you ragged last night. 

Your eyes are still closed.

You felt the bed shake just a few moments ago, the feeling woke you up but you still want more rest.

You feel something warm and soft press up against your chest and lay on your arm.

You roll towards the weight on your arm and pull the warm body close to you.

You take a deep breath and breath in the scent of your lover.

Just as you do, you hear the happy, cheerful voice of the man in bed with you.

“Good morning, my darling husband!”

John is still in bed with you?

He must have just taken form, that must be what made the bed shake.

You open your eyes and look down at his face. 

His ocean blue eyes are looking right into yours, you gently brush his hair back with the tips of your fingers as you whisper, "good morning." 

John brightly grinned a beautiful smile as warm as the sun's rays.

“I thought you’d want to wake up with your lover _in your arms..."_ John giggled, "-before I rushed off and made you breakfast!”

“Oh, John..." you tell him, "that’s really sweet but don’t feel like you have to do anything just for me- OF." He hugs you as tightly as he can, he might not look it but he's abnormally strong.

He lets you go and tells you to “take a shower, get a fresh pair of clothes and than join me downstairs.” He slowly sinks, inch-by-inch, into the bed. Phazing into the mattress and slowly disappearing.

It's an unusual way to leave the bed, but you bet he's more comfortable with phasing in and out of walls and floors then walking.

You bet it's quicker too...

John must already be downstairs. 

You smile as you look at the ruffles in the sheets that John left behind.

You slowly get up off of bed and pull up the sheets as you slide off.

* * *

"Honey!" John dropped the spatula out of his hand and tossed it into the sink once he saw you. "I just finished!"

John ran up to you and grabbed your hand, he happily pulled you over to the table and sat you down.

“I looked up recipes!” John explains to you. 

You haven't even looked at the table yet, you were too focused on him.

“They said this is really good!” John leaned over the table and pointed at a plate. 

You look at where he is pointing. There's an extremely fluffy omelette on a single plate, it is covered in dill and chives. He made it with jalapeños.

Your husband made you an assorted breakfast. Every inch of the table is filled with different plates of food. A stack of the thickest pancakes you've ever seen. A plate of cinnamon toast. A small plate of hash browns and scrambled eggs. Miniature chocolate chip muffins. A bowl of cut strawberries. You try your best to hold in a snicker when you see avocado toast. But your heart melts when you notice the large pitcher of apple juice. You picked the right man to marry. John opened the fridge to pull something out, he placed three vials of different types of hot sauce down in front of you. You really did pick the right man to marry.

John points at an empty bowl, “this bowl right here is for cereal! I know you love it! I want you to start eating healthier though! Just because I’m dead doesn’t mean you don’t get to live a full healthy life!” John passionately tells you. 

You smile as you take a bite of one of the sandwiches that John made for you, you glance down at it. It has another omelette inside. You turn your head towards John and kiss his cheek, smiling with your mouth full of food.

John sticks out his tongue, pretending that he's grossed out that you kissed him with your mouth filled with egg and toast. 

Then, John started laughing. 

You laughed with your mouth closed as you went in for another kiss. 

He surprises you by kissing you on the lips.

The crumbs on your face brushing up against his lips. 

John pulls away and starts laughing, you crack up too.

_He is really something else._


	47. Egbert

Dave's been out again, he said that there was something important that he needed to do.

You were sitting in your study, reading another one of the novels that he gave you.

You've been in the mood to read romances lately, there's a couple of lines in these books that you want to pull on Dave later. He'll be so stunned when you tell him something like, 

_"I feel like my soul is completely soothed when I'm with you."_

Oh! That's going to get him good!

You hear the sound of the door clicking open, you hopefully float over.

You push a thought from the depths of your mind to the side, that only serves to make it grow... _'what if **he** comes back?'_

The door pushed open and you waited to see who it was. It was Dave!

You quickly take form and plop down onto the floor.

You step up to great your husband "hi, honey!"

"Hey, babe." Dave has two bags on one of his arms. He rests them on the floor, he's hiding something behind his back. You try to peak to see what it is.

Dave notices you're trying to get a sneak peak.

He turns to you and asks, "want to know what I did while I was out?"

You happily chime in with a "yes!"

He reveals to you he's hiding a certificate behind his back.

You take the paper from his hand and quickly scan it.

You read aloud, "certificate of name change… Dave Egbert!"

You glance up from the paper and look at Dave, "you took up my name!?"

"It's a beautiful name, much better than Strider…" Dave tells you as he glances up at the ceiling, "and it has a nice ring to it. Dave Eg-bert."

Dave looks down at you again and tells you, "you know Egbert's are a type of paint brush, babe?”

“No. I didn’t.” You giggle under your breath, “it really suits you.”

Dave strolls up to you and wraps his hands around your waist. "It's official, I'm yours."

You glance up to him, you feel your eyes widen and a tear start to form.

You push every thought you have out of your mind.

You give him a sly smile. 

You tell your husband, “If your willing to change your name to match mine, than maybe I should practice screaming yours as a thank you.”

You bite your lip when you feel his hands shake on your waist. 

You point down at the bags on the floor, let's put that away first. 

Dave instantly bends down and rushes to the kitchen to put the things away.

You giggle, happily taking the sheet of paper into your study where you search for a good place to put it until you get it framed.

You place it down on the piano, it's so misplaced. There's only one other thing on the piano and that is one of your beloved house plants. There's no way you can lose such a precious thing here. 

You hear Dave yell out for you, you turn around and happily run out to see him. 


	48. colorless and dull

It's been a few days since your engagement and your spontaneous marriage. 

Just about everything about your relationship is untraditional.

Asking John to marry you out of next to nowhere felt so right...

You were sure that you wanted nothing more than to be with him forever, and you were sure that you made the right choice.

John has been signing and happily playing the piano for you as you hold up a charger to his arm, he giggles at the fact sometimes the electricity makes your hair stand up on end. You couldn't care less if you look like a fool, John gets a kick out of it and you love seeing him smile. 

You happily carry him around the house and take him on trails and trips. John told you that he still feels a bit concerned, he asked you if people knew that you were rich after. He thinks people could be after your money and it might attract creeps to your home.

You told him that you didn't say anything, but your brother did have a lot of acquaintances that seemed shady to you growing up. 

You've been keeping his spirits up though, photographing the beach and trying to take pictures of him. He only comes out looking like a series of white orbs, but they look so beautiful... he looks so beautiful, you can't stop taking them. 

You took them as polaroids, you were planning on showing them off during a show. 

You can invite John along and have him mess around with the room and tell people it's your lover flickering the lights and scratching the floors. Art critiques eat stuff like that up, they think it's all part of a show. You'd just be happy if you could tell people about your love.

You are possessing more of the images at the moment. Messing around with fluids under the dim red lights. 

John knocked on the door again, he stuck his head in. "I just baked a cake but it needs to cool off before I can decorate it. Can I hang out with you in the meantime?"

"Sure, man." You tell him, smiling at the thought of John spending time with you.

John smiles back, he happily walks around the room and glances at your things, you have photos scattered everywhere so he is swiping left and right trying to avoid messing up your set up. 

John finds a stack of black books you have, filled with old photographs.

"Mind if I take a look?" John asks you as he holds up one of the photo albums.

"Most of those are some photos I took years ago. So don't judge." You point at him with your tongs.

"I won't." John happily hums.

He opens the book and a few photos came pouring out. 

"Oh damn it!" John muttered to himself. He bent down and started fumbling around to pick up the photos off of the ground. You stretch yourself out to see what John is doing, he's on all fours trying to pick up all of the photos. He must really like one of them because he paused for a moment. He stopped what he was doing and slowly pulled himself up. Now John is sitting on his knees.

Your timer just went off. You take your photo out with your tongs, you try your best not to shake it as you drain the liquid off of the top. You clip it to the wooden clothespins you have on a wire. You gance back over at John once you're done.

You walk over to John to see which photo he's transfixed by.

John slowly stands up as you walk over, he dropped all the other photos out of his hands.

You walk up behind him and lean in to see...

It's a photo of you and your bro when you were a kid. That was back when he still hanged out with Jake and Roxy. One of them must have taken the photo but you were so young in that picture you can't remember who. You aren't even smiling in the photo. You're just standing three feet apart from him. Jake must have taken the picture. If it were Roxy she would have made him hug you. 

"Oh..." You sigh, "that... was my brother." 

"It is..." John keeps staring at the picture, you can't see his face.

He must be focused on seeing a younger version of you.

"He wasn't... the best _'guardian'_ but... our parents died when I was little so..."

John doesn't say anything to that.

John continues to stare blankly at the photo.

You take a step closer to John's side as you lean in to see his face.

There's no expression, nothing. But slowly water begins to drip from the ends of his bangs.

John doesn't say anything for a few moments, water begins to pour from his hair. 

He takes notice. He wipes his hair with the back of his wrist. 

John blankly tells you. "that's the man who came to the house."

John keeps staring at the picture in between his fingers.

You narrow your brows, you feel your face actually contort with pain.

He died. But... you never did see the body.

You don't say anything to John, you just stand besides him and try your best not to fall to your knees.

John turns his head more and looks up at you. 

John seems concerned. 

He extends out his hand, offering you back the photo.

His voice is hoarse,

"That was the man who killed me."

His face is drained of any color, so are his eyes.

He's irises are nearly white.

His skin returned to the pasty, white with purple-blue veins dragging out through his flesh.

You take the photo from him.

You look down at his hand.

You don't know what to say to console him.

You don't know what to say to ease your own mind.

You stare at the photo.

The words you say have no color to them, they are as dull as your life before you met John,

"He seems like the kind of man who would do that."

You look back up at John, dragging your eyes off the photo.

John slightly tilts his head, he's completely drained but their is a spark of emotion in his eyes now.

Like he is concerned.

Concerned for you.


	49. there is no color but red

John's been drained of all his color again for the past few days.

He's been trying to pull himself together but he can't hide his sadness as easily as you can.

The water dripping from his bangs gives away his pain. 

You smile at him regardless, you keep kissing his forehead as you tell him that the pain will pass.

He only wants you to hold him close. You don't mind that at all, when John is in your arms... he feels like he's your home. He's your shelter. 

You just sat him down on the couch. You gave him the controller to hold onto while you put on a music playlist instead of a movie. You thought he might like to listen to some piano pieces. 

He appreciates you trying to cheer him up, but you noticed that he's worried about... mostly you.

He keeps asking you how you are feeling and if you're doing alright, you keep telling him the same answer every time, "I'm fine so long as you are."John doesn't seem pleased with that.

He must think you're avoiding the question... Talking about your childhood would only serve to hurt him more. You think he could do without... hearing about that. 

You've never told anyone about your past, not like it would change it.

You prefer to work towards making a future... and here it is.

Nuzzled in your arms. 

John is cuddling up to you, he's resting his wet head on your shoulder. 

You kiss him. Gently swaying him back and forth.

It isn't long before John asks you to get a few things for him again.

You're happy to do it. You're running out of cereal anyway. 

* * *

The rain is ice cold outside, it's like snow.

You're getting drenches as run out of the store with your bags.

You hop into the driver's seat and put your bags in the front of your car next to the driver's seat. 

You are freezing so you blast the heat on as you drive. 

As you're driving back home, you notice that your tank is near empty.

You pull into the nearest gas station and pull up to a pump.

You sigh as you step out of the car.

You're not going to risk using your card on a pump, you'd rather go inside.

You walk forward to the side of your car and open the back door. Searching your cluttered floor for an umbrella so you don't get soaked-

You hear someone run up behind you- instantly there's a sharp pain in your lower back. 

You glance down.

You feel a hand wrap around your mouth.

"I'm sorry." 

At the sound of his voice you slowly attempt to turn your head around. 

He won't let you.

You don't need to see him.

You know who it is. 

He slowly pulls the blade out of your back.

"you have something I need."

He quickly pulls the knife up to your chest.

He stabs you right in the heart. He leaves in the blade as he slowly walks away. 

It's pouring around you. 

You can't move, the pain is blistering and mind numbing as the blood drains directly out of your heart. It's struggling to pump blood through your body, but it only serves to pump oxygen out of your body faster.

Then your suddenly ejected out of your own body. 

You're above the station now. 

The rain is passing right through you and it's dripping onto the structured covering the gas stations pumps.

You float down to see your body. Faced down and soaked in blood.

The cement floor is dull gray, dirty with trash and ciggeret buds. 

It's an unceremonious place do die. 

You can't concern yourself with things that you can't change.

Instead of mourning your own death, you rush to make sure that your home is alright.

You take off towards your home, tracing the roads as you go.

You need to make sure that John is alright.


	50. Cold and Damp

You were messing around with the piano, tapping your fingers slowly on the keys.

You sigh as you struggle to find joy in the music you're making. 

You can only focus on the rain pouring outside. 

You stop trying to play music and listen solely to the sounds of the rain and the silence of your home.

You know you have to wait for the pain to pass... like Dave said.

But how can you when that man came to your home, to his home?

He must be after Dave's money, you know it.

There's no other reason for him to do this... unless he's that cruel. 

Suddenly, you heard the sound of Dave screaming out for you.

You usually hear him unlock the door. 

You hurried to take form and rush into the foyer. 

You glance at Dave's face, he's skin was always pale... but you noticed purple in his face, veins are protruding out from under his black shades. You look down at his record shirt. There is a streak of blood steedly pouring out from his heart. 

He's bleeding but still moving.

You narrow your eyes.

You know what this means. 

Dave lightly laughs when he sees you, he rushes up and grabs onto you.

You drop your physical form, you can't feel him when he's transparent like that.

You feel how cold his body his... he must feel how damp you are.

You grip onto his back.

"Babe, I was so worried he'd come here and pull some shit."

You start shaking. 

"You're alright.... you're okay..."

Shaking with rage.

"It's alright... We'll be fine."


	51. Pride.

You've been sleeping in a run down house by the coast with two half-wits for days now, neither of them were smart enough to bring enough money for a laptop. They only packed shit food and toilet paper. That shit didn't even last a week.

No matter, your two associates didn't want to return after they saw you get sliced.

You killed them both on your way back to your hideaway. 

They were the only two people that you dragged with you here.

You didn't want either of them to speak of this to anyone else.

Regardless, you were going to kill them sooner than later.

You weren't going to share the money... it is yours after all. 

You knew that Dave would get it once you faked your death.

Shit. One deal falls through and you're the most wanted person in the illegal wonderland you fell into when you were in high school. Can't say you aren't surprised. You were always a big gambler and you loved chasing the white rabbit right down into its hole that's what landed you here in the first place... All of your projects where so wound up, tightnite and for lack of a better word... over complicated. Eventually one of them was going to fall through. 

This plan however is simple:

  1. Get your money back by wiring it to your different accounts overseas.
  2. Take up a new name.
  3. Start from scratch.



You're racing down the road, if a cop pulls you over you're going to need to pull out your glock. You hate using guns but you will if you must.

You already brought some weapons for the boy too.

You brought holy water, salt, sage, a lighter, all of it is probably worthless shit. 

You know that if that boy wants to hurt you he will find a way. 

Thinking of it... Once you get there, all you need to do is rush in, take your brother's laptop and leave.

Then you'll be all set.

You know Dave is stupid enough to leave his passwords and everything on it, old habits die hard. He's probably still logged into his bank account too.

You sigh again, if you had _any_ of your old shit you'd be able to just whip something up and phish information from him.

Well no time like the present and now that your little bro is dead you really do need to work fast before they freeze his shit.

You've been trailing Dave around for weeks, looking for the right time to strike. 

You knew you had to kill him, no way he'd just sit back and accept his money getting taken after the shit childhood he's been through. 

You probably shouldn't have approached him during daylight, but you were wearing a hoodie and it was raining so heavily. No one could have seen you, even if their were cameras. 

You have all of your basses covered.

You drove up to the house you've been to before with Roxy and Jake... Jake always did blame himself for his cousin's death... Jane was there too wasn't she? They must have all told Dave about this place, probably why he was drawn to it. 

You can't linger on what's dead. 

You have no time to lose.

You made haste, dashing up to the house and kicking open the door. 

You step through, hurrying across the foyer when-

You smell salt water.

A sharp pain burns through your thighs, it feels like a blisteringly hot knife just carved through your legs. 

It only takes a second for you to fall to the ground.

You pull your chest up from the hardwood floor.

Your legs have been severed off, a quick, hot slice rendered them both unusable and limp.

Another gust of air slices off the back of your jacket.

The flask holding your holy water falls.

You could do nothing but crawl towards it, but your dignity would not allow it.

You refuse to grovel in desperation for your life, your pride won't let you.

There is nothing you can do now. You will die here. Why fight it? You've lost.

You turn onto your back and lay down looking up at the ceiling.

You sigh. You lost already when you had to fake your death, you were denying the inevitable. You're bleeding out now. 

A small spec appears above you, like a small blue concentrated flash. Creating trails of light as it hovers over you.

It begins to grow, slowly it takes shape.

Starting with a few vertebra, quickly creating a spine as it forms tissue around it.

The tissue wrapping around the bones looks gray, nearly dead.

Skin begins to appear around the torso, rapidly a head and limbs begin to take form along with fabric threading around the body. 

The creature hovering over you tilts its head, it is glaring at you.

You can hear a faint screaming, it sounds like the wind itself is pleading for your life to be spared... or rather for the boy not to become a murderer... _like you._

The spectre instead searches your pocket for a phone.

The boy dials in three numbers and presses the call button.

He's calling the police.

Once their is a voice on the line a gust of air comes from his side, it's stabbing you through the arm to cause you to grunt.

He keeps slowly pulling the the air into your wound until you yelp in pain.

That was all he wanted from you.

He stops. 

The pain leaves your side and it's replaced with blood spurting from your new wound. 

The boy holds up the phone to his head.

He states the address in a cold voice and asks for an ambulance. 

He presses the button to hang up.

He walks over you, he takes off your belt and wraps it around one of your legs to stop the bleeding, "you won't die here. I don't want your soul lingering here any longer than it has to."

He continues assisting you, tending to your wounds that he rightfully caused.

"Your brother has love in his death, when your time comes... can you say the same?"

He rips apart your jacket into bits of fabric, using the scapes to cover your wounds.

He doesn't speak to you again. 

He doesn't torment your body or your soul any longer.

He disappears when he hears a siren. 

You can hear whispering in the air, light mummers of spirits talking. 

You recognize Dave's voice. 

You never believed in anything more than the meat or the flesh...

Spectres sounding you, murmuring and deciding what end is just for you...

You are lucky you've never quite been sane, if you weren't the ordeal would have left you mad.

The front door is still open, the cops rush in. 

The police search the area as first responders tend to your wounds and place you on a stretcher.

They quickly rush and try to ask you questions, you purposely ignore them. 

You don't give your name or the name of the boy who did this to you.

You can't speak of what happened here. Your pride won't allow you to. 


	52. back again

You step around the home. You thought it was fitting that you were asked to come back to this place yet again. It wasn't to long ago you got Dave to buy it. 

You were setting things up again. The renovations that Dave did on the home looked wonderful, you were devastated to hear that his will asked for everything in the house to remain in tact. For nothing to be moved out and for it to be upkept with the money he had in his bank account. 

Apparently Dave also had a certificate of name change... he changed it to match the young man who died here.

You looked at the piano, playing a few keys to listen to it's cry. It sounds like it's been tuned. 

You step out of the study and into the foyer, the front hall looks well kept, everything is in order. There were so many photos upstairs you didn't know where to start on that. 

Well for now you aren't moving anything, you are only expected to inspect the home.

This house is in much better shape then when you left it.

It would be no issue to sell... still... something about Dave's will tells you that you aren't supposed to sell it. You even told your boss it felt wrong. He told you that it was a legal gray area. Keeping everything in tact doesn't mean you can't sell the home itself. It's on the new owners to keep it intact. You were no lawyer, but you could smell some sort of legal trouble on the horizon. 

You turned towards the front door, ready to leave... when you notice a note fall to the floor, it seemingly came out of nowhere.

You feel like running. After your first encounter with the ghost boy dripping with salt water one evening, you've feared returning to this house. Apparently you're the only realture with the balls... or rather... the desperation, to come back to this home.

You bend over to pick up the note. You're hesitant to do so. 

Whatever is on it... it... it has to be...

You narrow your eyes at the page.

do you think you would be able to preserve the place?

i think it would make for an interesting haunted attraction.

shit yeah think about it

guy fell in love with a ghost right?

gave him a wedding band changed his name and everything

then he died and they haunt the home together?

cha ching

cash cow

just have make sure that business hours are decent and give us the weekends off.

oh and bank holidays too please, not for us... more for the staff!

dont touch our things either please. (sorry, dave is working on his manners.)

just leave it so it's more authentic to how we lived together!

we're still living together by the way

might want to watch out for the ~~bedroom cause~~

please disregard that last comment, i'd strike it but i'm running low on my own ink.

ah, dave gave me his pen. this has been john by the way

we can also write messages in blood if you all want!

well... maybe just me

dave can’t do it apparently he’s not ‘angry’ enough. (well neither am i !?!)

You flip the note over to the back to read the rest.

anyway, we'd be really thankful if you could somehow find someone or someway to do this favor for us.

consider it a wedding gift

that was dave just now. oh and help yourself to the food in our kitchen! i don't want the food i made to go to waste! have as much as you like!

okay sorry, dave just told me that it seems like _you are_ forging the note if i write something like that.

i'll tell you something that only i would know, the man who came to our home was the same man who had murdered me years ago.

i did cut off his legs, only because he was most likely going to steal dave's money somehow. not sure how but i know that i couldn't let that happen.

so i stopped him and called the police.

i suppose i didn't need to be so... burtish, but he had just murdered dave.

dave tells me that his brother was close with my cousin, that is something that perhaps you should look into.

consider this note to be a gift from us as well.

use it to prove that we are both still here in this home. 

You stare at the note in awe... you think on it for a brief moment.

You nod to yourself, sure of this.

You're going back to your employer... you are going to haggle with him to bring the price down. You're buying it and then right after you're putting in your resignation.

This house has been haunting you for years, in more than just one figure of speech, you've been offering up houseplants to the spirit to comfort him once you noticed that he's been watering the plants... when he appeared to you... he thanked you. 

He was nothing more than a tormented spirit, warding people off from his home. Now he wants to invite people in to see what he has with the man who you sold this house to... 

It can be done, and frankly... you don't see why not. 

You glance down at the note again, and give it a bright smile.


	53. Music Playlist

I really like listening to music while I write so I made a playlist for each chapter, the ones in **bold** are my favorites. Thank you for reading and thank you for listening!

* * *

**Music Playlist: ([YouTube Link](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUr4pw9_R1bvNrHmbziw6i5O4jzuXHZup))**

    1. Go Go Ghostship - Kenshi Yonezu (Guitar Cover)
    2. 'A Place To Wait Out This Rain' & **'Cohen's Scherzo No. 7'**
    3. Aquarium - Casino Versus Japan
    4. Passport Radio - Broken Social Scene
    5. Lynee - Kenshi Yonezu (Piano Cover)
    6. Darkest (Dim) - Tokimonsta
    7. Blue Ocean Blue - LAKE the band
    8. Thoughtful Zombie - VaLSe (covered by Tonika & *spiLa*) 
    9. **Lynee - Kenshi Yonezu (Guitar Cover)**
    10. Demons - Joji
    11. Just Add Water - Cavetown
    12. Charles - Osamuraisan (Guitar Cover)
    13. Left-Behind City - 40meterP (Piano Cover)
    14. Stale Cupcakes - Kazumi Totaka (Orchestra Arrangement) 
    15. Not About Love - Fiona Apple
    16. Take My Time - Skinshape
    17. **Breathing Underwater - Hiatus Kaiyote**
    18. Cure - Moonchild
    19. Get To Know It - Moonchild
    20. Ghostride - Crumb
    21. Riptide - Vance Joy
    22. Lovefool - The Cardigans
    23. Across the Sea - String Quartet (Weezer Tribute)
    24. My Mind Is Filled With Stuff - The Brian Jonestown Massacre
    25. Melt - Fake Laugh
    26. Sanctuary - Joji
    27. The Legendary Theme - Gitaroo Man OST
    28. The Only Place - Best Coast
    29. Something About Us - Pomplamoose Cover
    30. Love Yourself - Sufjan Stevens
    31. Montreal - Roosevelt
    32. The Other Side - Moonchild
    33. Apocalypse - Cigarettes After Sex
    34. **Flowers (Warren Xclnce's Honeysamba Mix) -AishaZoe**
    35. Twenty Past Four- Noble Oak
    36. Carry the Zero - Built to Spill
    37. Transatlanticism - Death Cab for Cutie
    38. Tears of... - Akira Yamaoka
    39. Left with a Gun - Skinshape
    40. Drift - Great Gable
    41. Kid Brother - Freescha
    42. Toes - Glass Animals
    43. Move Forward - Bedroom
    44. Stone In Focus - Aphex Twin
    45. Afternoon - Youth Lagoon
    46. Underwater Love (instrumental) - Smoke City
    47. It's Only - ODESZA
    48. Unrasiert - Bohren & Der Club Of Gore
    49. **Do You Feel It? - Chaos Chaos**
    50. First Love / Late Spring - Mitski
    51. The Killing Moon - Echo & the Bunnymen
    52. Intro - Yellow Days



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I enjoyed writing a short summary of my experience working on my last -large- story so I felt like making it a habit. 

First thing I thought of for this story was the title and then I wrote a story around it. I finished writing a [work](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19186618/chapters/45608647) were John helps Dave through a tough time and so I tried my best to wrack my mind for a scenario where Dave could help John. That's all I went off of. Red sea sounds like blood so everything followed after that.

This work is one of the cheesiest things I think I could have possibly written with a ghost in it, and well, that was my intention. Can’t think of a man falling in love with a ghost and having a passionate romance together seem _not_ cheesy, although I might have pushed it a bit. 

What I mean is that I might have dived a bit to much into the... sexual side of his character. As is my nature, John is just too much fun to write like this. 

As for Dave's character, he is the perfect man in this romance novel. He's our fabio if that's what romance novels actually have, I don't know I've never read one. It's funny, drama and romance is my favorite thing to write and never once have I read anything like an actual romance novel, not even Pride and Prejudice. 

Ah, I also referenced this [video](https://youtu.be/bYZVZHApHAo) at a certain point, the memes I imagine Dave make's are just like [this.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POX8GC-EFD8)

I don't have to much to say on this work. I wrote the entire first draft down in about a week and then let it sit for a while. I'm trying to make it a habit to finish all of the stories I write, just in case someone out there really resonates with them. However, for this story I didn't want the ending to 

I originally thought of Dirk bursting into the house and coming in to kill Dave so he could collect his money without issue, but I figured that John would be to quick and to driving to save Dave that Dave has to die somewhere else. Also having John cry over Dave's corpse only for Dave to end up standing a few feet away from John seemed silly, If he cried over Dave's death it would have just seemed like John was sad about losing Dave. But he really did want Dave to have a long happy life. I can't be sure which ending is better. I just figured that any ending is better than none at all. 

I'm very thankful if you read this the entire way through!

I apologize for any errors in grammar or spelling, I have no one looking over my work and I've been working on my other drafts. I have a lot of stories I am writing, namely I seem to be focusing on romantic comedy at the moment. My attention has been so divided on different projects as I wrote this, that's in part why I don't have to much to say about this work or my experience writing it. 

I think the part I enjoyed the most was describing John's books and his relationship with them. I loved how colorful the covers where and how it was the thing that bridged John's relationship with Dave. Also Dave's 'ain't nothing gonna get me down cause i'm already at rock bottom let's live it up' attitude is really such a centerpiece here, if he didn't have that attitude, John would have never gotten with him. They really were perfect for eachother in this story, exactly what the other needed. It's wonderful when things just fit into place like that... anyway...

Once again, thank you for reading.


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